ForexLive Asia FX news wrap: Japan, China stocks surge

Forex news for Asia trading Wednesday 4 November 2015

  • PBOC Zhou's comment on Shenzen-HK stock connect clarification hitting Bloomberg
  • New best internet '404' page ever? This is fun!
  • M6.2 earthquake occurred 83km west of Dili in East Timor
  • Chinese demand for Australian property waning - Credit Suisse
  • More on hedge fund legend Druckenmiller short the euro
  • More on China to kick off Shenzhen-Hong Kong stock connect in 2015
  • China coal miner defaults on 190mln bond payment
  • China says will accelerate elimination of obsolete & excess capacity at SEOs
  • Moody's poll on China: "Muted Growth Expectations, but Financial Crisis Unlikely"
  • China October Services PMI 52.0 (prior 50.5) & Composite 49.9 (prior 48.0)
  • Japan October Services PMI 52.2 (prior 51.4) & Composite 52.3 (prior 51.2)
  • PBOC sets USD/CNY mid-point today at 6.3343
  • UBS says RBA rates will be 'lower for longer', 'new neutral' is 3% (not 5)
  • Australia - Retail Sales for September: +0.4% m/m (expected +0.4%)
  • Australian data: Trade balance for September -2317m (expected -2900m)
  • UK data - BRC Shop Price Index for October: -1.8% y/y (prior -1.9%)
  • Japan data - Monetary base for October 32.5% y/y (prior 35.1%)
  • Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou to meet Chinese Presdient Xi Jinping
  • NZD traders note - Analyst response to NZ employment data
  • Japan is back from holiday today for a HUGE day on the TSE
  • Australian data - Services PMI 48.9 (prior 52.3)
  • NZD traders - Responses to the overnight dairy auction
  • ANZ on the dairy auction overnight, price fall affirms lower Fonterra payout forecast
  • NZ data - Q3 employment change +1.5% y/y (expected +2.5%)
  • Trade ideas thread for Wednesday 4 November 2015
  • Stan Druckenmiller says he is shorting EUR again
  • American Petroleum Institute (API) crude oil inventories build of 2.8 mln barrels

Overnight news set a positive tone for regional stability in Asia with a meeting scheduled this weekend in Singapore between the Presidents of both Chinas (The People's Republic and Taiwan).

But events in Japan and China really kicked Asian equities along after after that, with the Japan Post IPOs (yes, there were 3 of them) opening very strongly ...

  • Japan Post Insurance up 50%
  • Japan Post Bank +15%
  • Japan Post Holdings up rose 15% also

Chinese stocks were not to be outdone, though, gaining strongly on news that the PBOC governor flagged a timeframe for the launch of the Shenzen - Hong Kong stock connect program... by the end of this year! (We'll see ... Ah, OK, as I write, this hitting: PBOC Zhou's comment on Shenzen-HK stock connect clarification hitting Bloomberg... so maybe not end of this year after all).

Oh yeah ... forex ....

Right, then. The gain in equities drove a mild 'risk on' move, sort of. Yen fell (USD/JPY gained 30+ points from session lows) and the AUD gained (up 40+ points from its session lows), but thats where the 'risk on' argument starts to lose steam.

EUR fell a little on the day. GBP was more or less sideways while USD/CHF is up a few tics.

A beat on trade deficit expectations and a retail sales data result that hit expectations were cited by a few as positives for the AUD. Earlier, NZD/USD had taken a hit lower on disappointing Q3 employment data and it barely showed any sign of recovering much. Its off session lows as I update, though.

Gold has crawled a little higher through the session, while oil has tracked more or less sideways.

Regional equities with Shanghai closed for the lunch break:

  • Shanghai +2.58%
  • Nikkei +2.24%
  • HK +3.12%
  • ASX +0.11%