Forex and Bitcoin news for Asia trading Friday 16 March 2018
- PBOC injects 327bn yuan via one-year MLF at 3.25%
- Market quick to react to perceptions of White House chaos
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY reference rate for today at 6.3340 (vs. yesterday at 6.3141)
- Was it fake? reports now Trump has not decided on McMaster removal
- Reports US National Security Adviser McMaster fired
- Japanese upper house have approved Kuroda for another term as BOJ Gov
- US Sec Defense says has evidence of election meddling
- RBA Dep Gov Debelle says expects to see a repricing of assets if rates rise more
- NZ data out now: February manufacturing PMI dips to 53.4 (prior 55.6)
- Brexit - UK and EU to have intensive talks on Irish border question
- Trade ideas thread - TGIF 16 March 2018
- US Treas official says will work to counter China moves away from mkt liberalization
- China's Treasury holdings fall to six-month low in January
The data agenda for the day in Asia was sparse, but we stay tuned for unknowns and today we got a few for the yen. USD/JPY registered a high circa 106.39 in late NY/very early Asia but soon slid back small to drift around 106.30. We had some news that would ordinarily be taken as providing a wee bit of support for the yen:
And
USD/JPY ratcheted a few points lower, to circa 106.20/25. The 'news' hit that President Trump is to fire US National Security Adviser McMaster. USD/JPY took a tumble under 106. A few minutes later 'news' hit contradicting the initial reports, the President has not decided to fire him after all. I posted this chart in the aftermath - you can see the sell off in USD/JPY on the report of the firing and not much a recovery on the denial. I guess some wags will argue that it isn't confirmed until its officially denied ....
Yen crosses are lower with USD/JPY. There is not much to report on movement in other currencies. NZD is notably down a few points. A manufacturing PMI out today showed a drop on the month, and the prior was revised a good bit lower also. While the NZ economy continues to grow, the growth is not quite as much as thought. The RBNZ meet next week - they are on hold and will be for a good while to come. There is a new RBNZ Governor on the way the following week (March 27)
AUD, EUR ... both traded a few points softer against the USD and both have come back to be very little changed on the session, GBP fits that description also, CAD ditto . USD/CHF is little changed at all.
Still to come:
- FX option expiries for Friday 16 March 2018 - 10am NY cut
- Heads up for data coming up from the US on Friday - JOLTs jobs and IP among them
And, coming next week:
- Too early for a preview of next week's FOMC meeting? Nah ..... Dot plot expectations
- NZD traders heads up - preview of the RBNZ meeting next week
- Too early for a preview of next week's BoE meeting? Nah ...
And, more importantly
Have a great weekend all and a Great St. Patrick's Day - drink green beer!
