Asia Summary and Highlights 26 Feb
BOJ’s Ueda flags March, April hike chance
Asia Session
BoJ's Ueda highlighted potential hike around March to April if spring wage negotiation sees an acceleration in wage growth. It is a quite hawkish rhetoric, especially after headlines earlier in the week suggesting Takaichi's uncomfortable with more and swifter rate hikes from the BoJ. It supports the JPY and see USD/JPY trading 0.27% lower at 155.92.
The broader risk atmosphere lacks direction with U.S. equity indexes in the red while Japanese and Chinese equities in the green. USD is broadly softer on Thursday and precious metals higher. AUD/USD is trading 0.12%, NZD/USD is trading 0.09% while USD/CAD slips 0.05%. Else, EUR/USD is up 0.08% and GBP/USD is unchanged.
European and North American sessions
The European morning saw USD/JPY pick up to a high of 156.82 from 155.60 while the USD saw modest gains elsewhere. North America saw USD/JPY correct only modestly to 156.40 in the absence of significant data but elsewhere the USD erased European losses and more, with riskier currencies supported by equities. GBP/USD after a brief dip below 1.35 rebounded above 1.3550, outperforming EUR/USD which edged above 1.18 after slipping to a low of 1.1771. USD/CAD found sellers above 1.37 while AUD/USD saw renewed gains above .7120. EUR/JPY held steady near 184.60 after advancing a big figure in Europe.