Asia Summary and Highlights 29 Dec

Asia Session

Headlines and economics release continue to be non-existent as we approach the year end. After the roller coaster ride on Thursday, USD/JPY is acting much calmer so far in the last Asia session for the year. U.S. Treasury Yields are treading lower across curve while JGB yields opened higher. Broad risk sentiment is shaky yet it is not in the driver seat for now. USD/JPY is trading 0.06% higher at 141.45 after touching a session high at 141.66.

The PBoC has fixed onshore Yuan to be the lowest since May at 7.0827. Subsequently, Yuan traders took that as a green light to bring both the on/offshore Yuan lower. While the currency is capitalizing more on USD weakness than overall economic strength in China, it does not prevent the Aussie to gain some proxy support. The AUD/USD is trading 0.14% higher at 0.6838, NZD/USD also 0.35% higher at 0.6354 while USD/CAD is unchanged for the session. EUR/USD is up 0.02% and GBP/USD is up 0.19%.

North America Session

Early U.S. Trading saw the USD drifting, as the jobless claims was not a game changer and the focus is switching to next week’s key U.S. economic data.  The USD then bounced off the low, as global bond yields drifted higher on a sense that the November/December optimism could be getting ahead of the Fed. Additionally, some U.S. money market tightening before year end also helped lift the USD off the lows.  Finally, USDCHF stalled before 0.8320, while USDJPY bears thought a test of 140.00 could require new news.  Into next week, opinion is mixed with the USD sentiment negative, but the USD oversold.