Forex news for Asia trading for Tuesday 9 March 2021
- Rumour that Saudi air defences engaging missiles to the west of Medina, over the Red Sea
- China state funds reported as the (intervention) buyers of stocks on the plunge
- Goldman Sachs CEO Soloman questions whether increased retail trade in financial markets is a good or bad thing
- US exports of ethanol to China may be ready to surpass 2020 total already
- Coinbase valued at $90bn in private auction transactions
- People’s Bank of China sets yuan reference rate at USD/ CNY 6.5338 (vs. Friday at 6.4795)
- Pelosi says passage of Biden's $1.9tln package could be Wednesday, not Tuesday
- Australia February business confidence 16 (prior 10) and business conditions 15 (prior 7)
- UK data shows a huge drop in consumer spending and a huge rise in consumer confidence
- NZ business confidence (preliminary) for March 0.0 (prior 7.0)
- Japan GDP (final) for Q4 2020 2.8% q/q (prior 5.3%)
- CBA says the near-term risk for AUD/USD is lower
- Japan Household spending for January -6.1% y/y (expected -2.1%)
- Japan wages data for January: Labor cash earnings -0.8% y/y (vs. expected -1.7%)
- South Korea says will take swift measures on volatile markets
- AUD traders heads up - RBA Gov. Lowe to speak on 10 March
- SG expect the US 10 year at 2% by year end - the key risk is the Fed responding
- PIMCO says upward inflation pressure likely to be relatively contained, short-term rates to be anchored near zero
- Australia weekly consumer confidence: 111.9 (prior 110.3)
- Trade ideas thread - Tuesday 9 March 2021
- Yellen's overnight comment on inflation - "we have tools to deal with that"
- New Zealand Manufacturing Activity for Q4 -0.6% q/q (prior +10% q/q)
China (and bitcoin, but I'll come back to that) the focus during the session today so far in Asia. Chinese stocks started the day by dropping heavily, the cSI300 for example was down 3% at one stage (other indexes down similar amounts). It wasn't just China, the rout extended to South Korea and some other regional markets. The rapid plunge was soon countered, though, with China's 'national team (State funds) stepping in to buy stocks, sending the plunge rapidly into reverse and indexes soon climbing into positive for the session.
For the yuan, the PBOC set the reference rate for CNY much weaker but once trade commend the onshore yuan was also bought, sending USD/CNY down around two and a half big figures.
For major FX pairs here, these had seen currency weakness against the USD early but turned around with the stock/CNY move. EUR/USD, AUD/USD, cable and others are all net higher for the session. USD/JPY traded in its own world, climbing above 109 in a relatively steady manner and is not far from its highs as I post.
UST yields fell during the session, adding another positive for 'risk' (US equity index futures are higher in Gliobex evening trade)
Bitcoin was back at a$1 trillion market cap when it shunted higher during the session (highs circa US$54K).
