Weekend:

The US dollar added a few points during the session but ranges across major FX were not large. NZD/USD was encouraged a little lower but New Zealand Prime Minister Luxon saying he is committed to further efforts to lower inflation and interest rates.

Over the weekend we had some significant geopolitical news, with a regime change in Syria (Assad and his family have fled to asylum in Russia) and continuing unrest in South Korea over the short-lived coup attempt. South Korea’s financial authorities have pledged to support the won and the country’s financial markets. The benchmark KOSPI equity index fell to its lowest since late April 2020 during the session here today.

The data agenda kicked off with revised Q3 GDP from Japan, with economic growth revised a little higher. This will be welcome news for Japanese authorities and boosts the chance, at the margin, of a Bank of Japan rate hike this month (the meeting is December 18 and 19).

From China we had inflation data for November:

  • consumer prices rose at a slower pace in November, at their slowest in 5 months
  • producer price deflation persisted, for its 26th month in a row
  • the producer price index was -2.5% y/y, slowing from the -2.9% in October and above the estimated of -2.8%

Domestic demand in China continues to languish despite government and PBoC stimulus measures to support the economy.

Over the weekend from China we had news that the People’s Bank of China were, once again, in the market buying gold. XAU/USD had some decent swings during the session as the news was digested. Highs around US$2650 were attempted twice but pulled back from there.

Gold swings:

gold wrap 09 December 2024 2