Forex trading headlines for Asia Thursday 27 February 2014
- New Zealand – January trade balance: 306m (vs. expected 230m)
- Australia – Qantas Is cutting 5,000 jobs
- Nikkei reports Japanese staffing companies seeking higher pay for temporary workers
- Japan Buying Foreign Bonds (week ended February 21): Y 598.8B (plus the rest of the data)
- Australia – private capital expenditure for Q4: -5.2% (expected -1.3%, prior was +3.6%)
- Fed’s Pianalto: Forward guidance has been effective plus more here
- RBNZ – January low-deposit loans 4.8% of total new lending (vs. 5.6% prior)
- China – yuan weakens below fixing again – third consecutive day
- Euro – BNP Paribas says the ECB will start QE this year
- Citi: Lowers Australia GDP forecast after capex report
- Junior Partner in Cyprus Coalition Withdraws Support for Government
The AUD was marked down immediately in the wake of the release of the Q4 capex data (see bullets, above), but found support around 0.8920 and retraced a portion of the move lower before settling sideways.
The Kiwi was stronger on the session, though. Trade data was strong (see bullets, above) and AUD/NZD lower on the session.
EUR/USD, GBP/USD, USD/CHF had restrained session again, the USD weakening marginally, but not much change on the day.
USD/CAD was flat.
USD/JPY seems to be getting quieter and quieter in the timezone, perhaps it building to something. But today was a small range day with support around 102.25 and resistance around 102.40
The yuan weakened below its PBOC-set mid-point again today for the third consecutive day.