Forex news for Asia trading Friday 28 April 2017

  • Bank of Japan bond buying program for May will be published today
  • US House delays Trumpcare vote again
  • More from Trump: 'Horrible' trade deal with Sth Korea, Saudi Arabia treat US unfairly
  • AUD traders - heads up for APRA head speaking at the top of the hour
  • Australia data: Q1 PPI: 0.5% q/q (prior 0.5% & % y/y (prior 0.7%)
  • Australia - Private Sector Credit (March): 0.3% m/m (expected 0.5%)
  • PBOC sets USD/CNY mid-point today at 6.8931 (vs. yesterday at 6.8896)
  • NZ data: ANZ Activity Outlook: 37.7 (prior 38.8) & Business Confidence 11.0 (prior 11.3)
  • Reuters: Trump says there is a chance of a "major, major" conflict with Nth Korea
  • RBNZ says it remains concerned by high house prices
  • Huge Japan data dump - a look at the USD/JPY response (AKA "Is this thing on?")
  • Japan Retail sales for March: +0.2% m/m (vs. expected -0.3%)
  • Japan - Industrial production (preliminary, March): -2.1% m/m (vs. expected -0.8%)
  • China press: Some banks have reduced, suspended new loans to property developers
  • Japan inflation data - Headline national CPI y/y for March 0.2% (vs. expected 0.3%)
  • Japan data: Overall Household Spending, Jobless Rate & Job-To-Applicant Ratio
  • ICYMI: RBA board member Harper strengthens rate hike outlook
  • UK data - Gfk Consumer Confidence (April): -7 (vs. expected -7)
  • New Zealand - Trade Balance (March): 332m (vs. expected 370m)
  • New Zealand - March Building Consents (permits): -1.8% m/m (prior +14.0%)
  • Australia press: If Fed hikes 3 or 4 times, & RBA holds, AUD collapses ... inflation shock
  • US Sec State - China warned Nth Korea it would impose sanctions if nuke test
  • ICYMI - Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Lowe spoke overnight
  • FT: EU prepares for post-Brexit membership for united Ireland
  • Here's the wrap for April - what have I missed?
  • Moody's affirms Mexico's A3 issuer rating; negative outlook
  • Trade ideas thread - Friday 28 April 2017
  • Stick this in your diary - Yellen to speak Friday next week US time
  • ICYMI: ForexLive Americas FX news wrap: Draghi takes the euro for a ride
  • Economic data due from Asia today - Japan CPI and plenty more

US President Trump had comments reported right into the US evening, again. In brief (see bullets above for more):

  • Reuters: Trump says there is a chance of a "major, major" conflict with Nth Korea
  • More from Trump: 'Horrible' trade deal with Sth Korea, Saudi Arabia treat US unfairly
  • Trump says he will announce decision on U.S. position on the Paris climate accord in about 2 weeks

And that wasn't all from US politics - a late evening announcement that:

  • House Republican leaders have delayed the healthcare vote again, until next week at the earliest

Unlike yesterday's NAFTA news the market impact was relatively subdued (though the Korean won did weaken on Trump's attack on the South Korean trade deal):

USD/Won

Prior to all this we had the huge end-of-month data dump from Japan;

  • Headline CPI
  • Core CPI
  • Core-core CPI
  • Household spending
  • Unemployment rate
  • Job-To-Applicant Ratio
  • Retail Sales
  • Industrial production

Details on these in the bullets above, but in a nutshell inflation results were (you won't be surprised) way below target still, household spending fell again, retail sales gained, and industrial production slowed from recent strong results. As an aside on industrial production, the outlook is for a sharp rise in April figures.

Speaking of data, we also got New Zealand and Australian indicators (see bullets above).

And so to currency movement; it was a bit of a "is this thing on?" day. EUR, CHF, AUD and NZD are all little changed against the USD after small ranges only.

Cable has edged itself a little higher, and is above 1.2910 again as I update and knocking on the door of a further rise. USD/CAD has had a small range but it too is tracking along at a session high as i write.

USD/JPY popped to 111.30 (just above) and then down to 111.10 (just below) for a narrow range also.

It seems despite all the news and data flow here in Asia, and it was a busy one for these, the market wants to wait for US GDP today in the US:

  • Gross Domestic Product, Q1 2017 (advance estimate), expected real GDP +1.0% (annualized)

Regional equities:

  • Nikkei -0.36%
  • Shanghai -0.34%
  • HK -0.43%
  • ASX -0.14%