Forex news for Asia trading Friday 19 May 2017

Both new US politics news and data flow were very, very light indeed in Asia today. We did get a little 'geopolitical' news, with reports a second US carrier is being moved in close to North Korea for exercises and also reports on China 'intercepting' a US Air Force plane over the Yellow Sea (this is said to have happened on Wednesday).

USD/JPY slid from early highs circa 111.60 down to around 111.15/20 in a subdued manner. EUR/JPY fell on the session alongside, with EUR/USD not doing too much at all, a minor wiggle or two. USD/CHF, too has shown little movement while GBP/USD has edged up a handful of points or so.

A little AUD/NZD selling has seen AUD/USD pop just a few points while NZD/USD has slid a few points. Movement is very small indeed though.. USD/CAD dipped toward 1.3590 but is around 1.3600 as I update for another pair with little net movement for the session.

Gold is a tiny bit up, but oil has gained - an extension to OPEC production cuts cited again as a reason for the better tone.

A subdued session to round out what has been an active week in Asia.

Regional equities:

  • Nikkei -0.16%
  • Shanghai -0.07%
  • HK +0.21%
  • ASX -0.30%

Still to come:

  • The Fed's Bullard speaks during US time (1315GMT), and before that we get German PPI (0600GMT)