Forex news for Asia trading Thursday 15 October 2015

China

  • NAB: China's economy may be far larger than what we think
  • PBOC sets yuan reference rate for today at 6.3402
  • China Securities Daily: China Should Use 'Moderately Loose' Monetary Tools
  • China Securities Journal: PBOC dismisses talk its engaging in QE

Australia, New Zealand

  • Fortescue Metals says demand for its iron ore remains strong
  • Australia-New motor vehicle sales Sept.: +5.5% m/m (prior -1.6%) +7.7% y/y (prior +2.1%)
  • Australia September Employment Change: -5.1K (expected +9.6K) and Responses to the Australian employment data but 'not worth paper they're written on'?
  • Australia-Consumer Inflation Expectations for October: 3.5% y/y (prior 3.2%)
  • NZ data: ANZ Consumer Confidence for October: +3.7% m/m (prior +0.9%)
  • NZ data: Manufacturing PMI September: 55.4 (prior 55.1)
  • HSBC-more detail: Australian iron ore export volumes to China have risen by 8% y/y
  • NZ data: Manufacturing PMI September: 55.4 (prior 55.1)
  • HSBC-more detail: Australian iron ore export volumes to China have risen by 8% y/y
  • Australia, EU to work on free trade agreement in the coming months
  • Japanese PM Abe asks BlackRock for some help getting Japanese companies to spend
  • ECB's Constancio: Sees 'potential spillovers' from zero lower bound exit
  • Bank of Korea leaves interest rates unchanged
  • Hilsenrath in the WSJ: Fed Doubts Grow on 2015 Rate Hike
  • Reuters Tankan for October: Manufacturing index +7 (vs. +9 prior)
  • Data ... positive ... negative, sentiment lurches from one extreme to other very quickly
  • American Petroleum Institute (API) crude oil inventories up 9.3mln barrels

The focus today, apart from China of course, was Australian employment data for September. The headline came in much weaker than expected, but the 'trend' data showed as positive. Responses were not generally negative and indeed, after an instant markdown in AUD/USD on the poor headline the AUD came back to new session highs in following hours. As I update its on its high. New vehicle sales data, which is not usually much of a market focus, garnered some attention as it came in strong.

USD/JPY net gained on the day (helping AUD/JPY higher. The Nikkei has had a positive session (so far), as has Shanghai.

EUR had a small gain on the session, while the USD/CHF is not much chnaged. Cable is basically flat also.

Oil fell early on a huge inventory build reported by API ... but follow through selling has been very limited. Errr, when I say 'limited', its basically gone up since the low achieved on the data announcement. Gold is down tiny since the US afternoon, barely anything in it though

Regional equities:

  • Shanghai +1.4%
  • Nikkei +1.4%
  • HK -+2.11%
  • ASX +0.55%

Still to come:

  • Economic data due from Japan