Asia Summary and Highlights 23 October

Asia Session

With the lack of strength from Japanese officials' verbal intervention, USD/JPY continues to rise as U.S. Treasury Yields are outperforming JGB yields. There is no sign from the Japanese end they would like to curb the recent JPY fall. The momentum for USD/JPY rally remains strong and a correction seems unlikely unless we hear a hawkish preview of next week’s BoJ. USD/JPY ran past 152 to trade 0.68% higher at 152.10.

Regional sentiment is mostly positive with HSI leading and Chinese equities also upbeat. While Nikkei is lower and U.S. equity indexes are little changed. AUD/USD is 0.04% lower at 0.6680, NZD/USD is also 0.08% lower at 0.6039 while USD/CAD is unchanged. Else, EUR/USD and GBP/USD are up 0.05%.

North American session

In a quiet session the USD was modestly firmer, though equities and UST yields saw little movement. USD/JPY saw highs above 151 and settled near the figure while EUR/USD saw lows just below 1.08. 

Comments from ECB officials, Lagarde early and later Rehn and Villeroy generally supported easing hopes. BoE’s Bailey gave little away on policy but Greene was quite cautious. GBP/USD recovered from an early dip seeing EUR/GBP reversing earlier gains to return to European lows near .8320.  EUR/CHF was weaker, falling below .9350.  The commodity currencies were quiet.