Forex news for Asia trading Tuesday 21 March 2017

  • NYSE Arca ... "one of the largest trading snafus of 2017"
  • AUD continues to fall, looking for the smoking gun in the Minutes
  • AUD extending its lows
  • China Premier Li says will further open services, industries
  • NZ data: February credit card spending down on the month: -1.4%
  • Its getting hot in here (hot enough to melt gold anyway)
  • US Secretary of State Tillerson plans to skip April 5-6 meeting of NATO
  • Japan chief cabinet secretary Suga says reaffirmed FX commitments at G20
  • PBOC sets USD/CNY central rate at 6.9071 (vs. yesterday at 6.8998)
  • AUD and NZD orderboards
  • RBA highlights threats in property market, acceleration of domestic household debt
  • EUR/USD orderboard
  • USD/JPY under 112.50 ... USD/JPY & EUR/JPY orderboard
  • RBA March meeting minutes: Rising AUD would complicate economic transition
  • French debate over, Macron wins - EUR on the move up
  • Old folks: Rookie currency traders have no idea what they’re doing
  • Japan finance minister Aso speaking on free trade
  • French election debate poll: Macron seen as most convincing
  • EU's Juncker says Brexit example will make everyone realise it's not worth leaving
  • Germany Fires Back at U.S. Critique of Its Trade Surplus
  • Australia - Weekly ANZ consumer confidence index: 112.0 (prior 113.1)
  • Trade ideas thread - Tuesday 21 March 2017
  • French election debate continues - Le Pen: France needs economic patriotism
  • UN inspector: North Korea has doubled the size of its facility for enriching uranium
  • Goldman Sachs on French election risk: "orderly and, overall, quite muted"
  • Economic data due from Asia today (AUD traders - RBA minutes day)
  • Japan back from holiday today (ps. Abe, Merkel take stand against protectionism)
  • ICYMI: ForexLive Americas FX news wrap: Evans-the-dove is dead

An active session for the currencies here in Asia, some of it 'news' driven.

For example, EUR found its feet once the French election debate concluded. A poll conducted at its completion gave the debate 'win' to Macron and placed Le Pen equal last with Fillon. EUR/USD had dropped as low as circa 1.0720 but managed to claw its way back to 1.0770. From there is lost some of the gain, down around 15 points-odd from that high.

EUR/JPY had a big run, too. USD/JPY had earlier been sold heavily under 112.50 and down to lows under 112.30 but bounced solidly back toward 112.80 for a decent round-trip range on the session. EUR/JPY traced out a circa 120.67 low and then traded steadily back to just shy of 121.35 as EUR/USD and USD/JPY both gained.

USD/CHF was not to be outdone for activity, it traded higher early (just above 1.0000 on a bit of a spurt) and then came back to under 0.9970 and thence to around 0.9990. EUR/CHF has net gained on the session

Cable eked out a steady gain until turning back from around 1.2380 to fall nearly to session lows, its barely changed net on the session as I update (up small).

NZD/USD is little changed.

For the currencies, AUD is a big loser on the session. Commodities traded lower on the session, weighing, and the RBA MInutes (March meeting) was read as dovish, with developments since the minutes (most notably the higher unemployment rate) also indicating weaknesses in the economy. AUD/USD fell to 0.7700 before finding any bounce at all, and not much (as I update).

Gold was a loser also (selling too with other commodities), dropping around 8 USD.

Regional equities:

  • Nikkei -0.30%
  • Shanghai +0.22%
  • HK +0.23%
  • ASX -0.1%
  • The South Korean KOSPI is up more than 3% in a week and hit a 23-month high today. I don't want to give anyone political ideas but if you want a huge stock market surge, simply impeach the President. (I'll get my coat.)