Asia Open - Overnight Highlights

EMERGING ASIA

EM currencies perform mostly weaker against the USD as the greenback continue to trade broadly stronger, leading by the further recovery in USD/JPY. PHP saw the largest losses of 0.65%, followed by KRW 0.47%, MYR 0.4%, TWD 0.36%, THB 0.29%, SGD 0.21%, IDR and INR 0.16%, CNH 0.08%, HKD 0.05% and CNY 0.01%.

USD/CNH is trading higher at 7.2120 compared to the 7.2061 at previously closed. Onshore spot USD/CNY is trading higher at 7.1993 from 7.1984 previously closed. 12 month NDF followed both the on/offshore market and is trading higher at 7.0005 compared to 6.9981  previously closed.

USD/IDR spot market is trading higher at 15718 from 15691 previously closed. 1 month NDF is trading lower at 15736 from 15747 previously closed.

USD/INR onshore spot market is trading higher at 83.04 from 82.91 previously closed. 1 month NDF is trading higher at 83.09 from 83.03 previously closed.

NA Session

The JPY continued to weaken, with USD/JPY gaining another half a figure through the North American session to near 151, while the USD otherwise generally edged lower, with EUR/USD rising 20 pips to 1.0865. USD/CAD initially rose strongly after weaker than expected Canadian CPI data to trade above 1.36, but reversed gains by the European close, trading back around North American opening levels at 1.3560. The CHF also lost a little ground against the EUR, with EUR/CHF rising 20 pips to 0.9645, but was little changed against the USD. 

February’s Canadian CPI saw an unexpected fall to 2.8% yr/yr from 2.9% in January and 3.4% in December, putting the series at its lowest since March 2021. February US housing starts saw a stronger than expected 10.7% increase to 1521k though have still not fully reversed January’s 12.3% decline, which was hit by weather. Permits were also stronger than expected, up a modest 1.9% to 1518k after a 0.3% decline in January.