Forex news for Asia trading for Thursday 31 December 2020
- China's Sinopharm coronavirus vaccine has been approved for general use
- ECB's Weidmann says do not expect central banks to keep interest rates low forever
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY reference rate for today at 6.5249 (vs. yesterday at 6.5325)
- No FX option expiries of note for Thursday 31 December 2020 at the 10am NY cut
- China December manufacturing PMI 51.9 (vs. expected 52.0) & services 55.7 (vs. expected 56.3)
- The UK-EU Brexit trade deal has now been signed into law by the Queen
- Approval for the UK - EU Brexit trade deal is unopposed in the UK upper house
- US will extend tariffs to aircraft parts from France and Germany
- Covid-19 second-stage vaccinations to be delayed across UK by up to 3 months
- Trade ideas thread - Thursday 31 December 2020
ICYMI
The US dollar once again lost ground during the session in Asia, currencies generally higher across the major FX board. Offshore yuan rose also, hitting highs it hasn't seen since June of 2018 (circa 6.49 for USD/CNH). As I post the picture is becoming more mixed though with much of the gain for currencies being given back and then some. Ranges remained small.
There were a few news items about but none of much impact. On the data front Chinese official PMIs came in slightly softer for December but still sitting in 'expansionary' territory above the 50 dividing line.
BTC hit 29K USD at one stage, gold higher also on the session before it too reverted back to little net change.