Forex and Bitcoin news for Asia trading Monday 15 January 2018
- Video: 5 things to watch for from the Bank of England this year
- Mohamed El-Erian in the FT: Breaking out of low-growth ‘new normal’ is on horizon
- Australian data focus this week is the December jobs report - preview
- Bundesbank has decided to include the Chinese yuan in its currency reserves
- Weekend China - Regulator to step up oversight in the banking sector this year
- Bank of Canada monetary policy meeting Wednesday - preview
- Singapore - head of MAS says inflation surprise could force cent banks to react faster
- PBOC injects funds through 1 year MLF
- North & Sth Korea begin second meeting to discuss PyeongChang Winter Olympics
- Hello US traders having a holiday (but checking their phones!) - Asia FX & bitcoin update
- Fitch on Australian banks - profit growth likely to slow in 2018
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY reference rate for today at 6.4574 (vs. Friday at 6.4932)
- IMF's Lipton: Global economy going from strength to strength
- China weekend data - credit growth slowed in December
- BITCOIN - Korea to decide on virtual currency exchange shutdown after sufficient consultation
- US President says he does not know if there will be a government shut down
- Australia monthly inflation gauge (December): +0.1% m/m (prior 0.2%)
- BOJ's Kuroda: Will maintain QQE with YCC as long as needed
- ANZ on New Zealand: Signs of a generalised lift in inflation remain elusive.
- UK data - Rightmove House Prices (January): +0.7% m/m (prior revised to -2.3% from -2.6%)
- CAD and MXN - the duelling headlines
- Heads - up to expect more news from South Korea on Bitcoin soon (0040 GMT)
- US media reports of Trump developing a softer attitude towards NAFTA
- UK government rules out rescue of Carillion - company in new talks with lenders
- For NOK traders: Norway could further restrict bank lending, impose interest rate limits
- MOAR Brexit - France expects UK to pay up, take more refugees to keep border - official
- Mainstream media reports on Russian election interference (but not how you think ...)
- Weekend geo bunfight - Merkel might join Macron at Davos for Trump clash
- Weekend oil - more on the Iraq comments re OPEC / non-OPEC output cuts
- Brexit: Heightened GBP vulnerability this week (EU leaders on deal or no deal)
- Trade ideas thread - Monday 15 January 2018
- Weekend Brexit news: UK's Corbyn says he opposes PM May’s European Union withdrawal bill
- New Zealand - Food prices (December): -0.8% m/m ( prior -0.4%)
- Weekend Brexit news: Sturgeon says a “golden opportunity” to remain in single market
- Weekend Brexit news: "No deal will cost EU £500billion"
- Weekend Brexit news - Farage says he is concerned vote to leave could be reversed
- Weekend oil - Iraq, UAE, Qatar, Oman call for OPEC / non-OPEC stick with output cuts
- Economic calendar due from Asia today (and BOJ JGB buying)
- Welcome to the new week in the forex market: early price indications
The People's Bank of China reference rate for the onshore yuan was revalued at its highest since May of 2016 against the USD today. The US dollar was weak all around, following through on its Friday losses, the index touching its weakest intraday level in more than three years.
The yen sunk its boot into the USD further, USD/JPY under 110.65 today during the session and to its lowest since September of last year. Bank of Japan Governor Kuroda spoke, reaffirming continued loose policy, but it didn't weaken the yen. The yen unwind continues.
AUD and NZD too extended their gains against the big dollar today, while EUR, CHF and GBP are not as much changed but all sightly to the better against the buck. USD/CAD is a little lower, but not too much in it.
As is often the case on a Monday in Asia, impactful news flow was light (although we got plenty of Brexit bluster over the weekend) and with the US holiday on today's horizon, that may well continue. What news and data we did get is all in the bullets above.
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On bitcoin and cryptos more generally, we got further confirmation from South Korean authorities today that they are rethinking and backpedalling a little on their crypto regulation plans that sent prices into a tailspin mid last week.
