Forex news for Asia trading Thursday 13 April 2017

The big news from the US afternoon was Trump saying the USD was too high, amongst other things: ForexLive Americas FX news wrap: Trump flexes his jawbone

Asia headlines:

  • China March trade balance (USD terms): Surplus 23.93bn (+10bn expected)
  • Bloomberg: North Korea’s nuclear test site appears “primed and ready”
  • China trade balance data for March aggregated into Q1 data!
  • PBOC injects 83.9 bln yuan via pledged supplementary lending facility
  • Twitter talk - minor error in the Australian employment data
  • China trade data due soon, any time now (likely at top of hour)
  • RBA Financial Stability Review: Vulnerabilities in h'hold debt, housing have increased
  • Australia - Employment Change (March): +60.9K (vs. expected +20K)
  • PBOC sets USD/CNY mid-point today at 6.8651 (vs. yesterday at 6.8940)
  • Australia data - Consumer Inflation Expectations (April): 4.1% (prior 4.0%)
  • Bank of Korea leaves base rate unchanged (at 1.25% record low)
  • China steel company fails to make interest payment on bond
  • SGD - Singapore central bank leaves width of policy band, centre point unchanged
  • Japan data - money stock, securities flows
  • BlackRock's Fink: Fed is on a path to two rate hikes
  • Why all the Trump u turns are great news
  • UK manufacturers report strongest export growth since late in 2014
  • More on the PBOC's 'yuan flexibility' piece
  • UK data - RICS House price balance March: 22% (expected 22%, prior 24%)
  • NZ data again: FPI -0.3% m/m (prior +0.2%) ... (Food Price Index)
  • More New Zealand data - March manufacturing PMI rises to 57.8
  • PBOC official - Raise tolerance on yuan's 'flexibity'
  • Japan press: Japanese government kept quiet on yen climb wary of provoking US
  • NZ housing data for March, prices up, sales volume down
  • USD/JPY breaks 109.00, now testing the 200-day moving average
  • More from BOC's Poloz: Low CAD is selectively good
  • Economic data due from Asia today - Australian jobs report focus
  • Brazil cuts benchmark rate by 100bps (from 12.25% to 11.25%)
  • Trade ideas thread - TGIThursday edition!
  • More from BOC's Poloz: Bk of Canada just can't follow US on rates
  • US Treasury confirms it will not name China a currency manipulator
  • BOC's Wilkins: Path of US and Canada rates are different
  • BOC's Poloz: Firms are planning a modest rise in investment
  • Trump just set some kind of record for reversing rhetoric

USD/JPY added to its losses as the Tokyo morning got underway, but the extra move was small, under 108.80 but as I update not carrying on too much lower.

EUR/USD popped 1.0670 but also little further from there. USD/CHF, similar. GBP/USD was a better performer, it managed to head to circa 1.2570, perhaps helped by some data from the UK (see bullets above).

NZD/USD edged a little higher against the USD also.

But it was AUD that shone, although it took a super jobs report (employment change coming in 3x expected!). Other indicators of the labour market have been on the improve but its only today that the official data has seemed to show a catch up. Note that the headline results is 'seasonally adjusted', the Australian Bureau of Statistics urge us to look at the 'trend' data, which also showed growth but at a more subdued pace. I post the 'trend' results into my summary of the report each month, so check it out for more (see bullets above). The RBA flagged some concerns with housing borrowing today in their Financial Stability Review.

AUD/USD popped on the data, from circa 0.7540 to (as I update) now above 0.7575.

China trade data (March and Q1) was next, a strong growth in both exports and imports reported. The People's Bank of China injected liquidity into money markets today, both through OMOs (first time in 14 days) and through the pledged supplementary lending facility. USD/CNY was set by the Bank (reference rate) much lower than Wednesday (i.e. yuan stronger against the USD).

Regional equities:

  • Nikkei -0.97%
  • Shanghai +0.10%
  • HK -0.0.7%
  • ASX -0.83%

Still to come:

  • Data from China for New Yuan Loans and Aggregate (social) Financing (March figures) are due sometime in the 13 to 15 April window.