The USD traded a little higher in the very early Asian hours today. The ‘gap’ higher for the US dollar soon reversed as more Asian markets became active and currencies extended their gains nearly across the board. CAD, GBP, EUR, AUD, NZD, even gold – all higher. Yen is a bit of a laggard its not a lot net changed on the session.

In China, easing back of COVID restrictions continued incrementally. Poor PMI data was shrugged of as the optimistic outlook gained. Offshore and onshore yuan gained against the dollar also.

Over the weekend OPEC+ confirmed no change to output policy. While on oil, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said over the weekend that Russia would not sell oil to countries participating in the oil price cap. Oil initially rose on the reopening of futures trade on Sunday evening (US time) but has since fallen back.

Australian data today showed headline inflation rising once again, with core (trimmed mean) steady at just under 5% y/y, well above the RBA target. This data is from a privately conducted survey that is a decent guide to official data. Also from Australia was data on wages in Q3, coming in at +11% y/y, which is well above the inflation rate. This has the potential to set up a wage-price spiral. The Reserve Bank of Australia meet tomorrow with a 25bp hike to the cash rate widely expected. The Bank says its in a ‘wait and see’ period as it assesses the previous rate hikes’ impact upon the economy. I’ll be interested if they say anything at all about the surge in wages. Stay tuned. The Reserve Bank of Australia statement is due at 0330 GMT on Tuesday, 6 December 2022.

china stockmarket wrap 05 December 2022