Forex news for Asia trading Thursday 19 October 2017

The big focus in Asia today was on Chinese data

  • Q3 GDP
  • And September activity data

Add to that list

  • the Australian jobs report for AUD traders,
  • and more waiting on an announcement from NZ for the NZD traders

We got some data from Japan to kick off the session. As usual, Japanese data had very little impact, but we did get a minor (very minor) sell off in USD/JPY perhaps in response to reports out of North Korea warning the US could face 'unimaginable' strike.

The impact on markets of missile tests and nuclear bomb tests from NK seem to be diminishing, ... the impact of these belligerent comments was also only small.

USD/JPY topped just under 113.10 and the bottom of the session range was just under 112.90, so yeah, minor moves only. Also of note for yen traders were comments from BOJ Dep Gov Nakaso who spoke in New York Wednesday, with text released by the Bank of Japan during the Asian session today (see bullets above for details on North Korea developments, Nakaso comments and Japanese data).

The Australian labour market report was another strong one, following on from previous strong ones. The Australian dollar was marked higher on the data release, a 30-odd point jump to circa 0.7870 which topped it for the session against the USD.

China data followed soon thereafter, hitting a little before scheduled time:

The AUD/USD did not sustain its gains after the China data, its back around 0.7850 as I update, just above its earlier session lows. A small range only on the day.

NZD/USD was also a minor mover, trading higher toward 0.7170 and is now lower, circa 0.7125 as I post and still awaiting news on government formation, which should be along any time from now. Incumbent PM English said he was not clear on whether NZ First would be supporting the Nationals, which weighed a little on the kiwi.

EUR/USD popped above 1.1810 and is around 1.1800 as i post, up from lows under 1.1790 earlier. USD/CHF is barely changed; cable is up a few tics as is USD/CAD.

Gold fell a few dollars on the session but small only.