Asia Summary and Highlights 23 June
Risk sour
Asia Session
After an hour of talk with U.S. Bessent, Japanese minister Katayama remain ambiguous about any concrete action and only suggest Japan-U.S. action pact intact. USD/JPY is trading little changed at 161.64.
Fed speakers set the tone for risk in early Asia session. The emphasis on strong service inflation reignite market participants’ concern on more hawkish tilt from the Fed. Major equity indexes are all in the red, so as precious metal. AUD/USD is trading 0.52% lower at 0.6964. NZD/USD is trading 0.38% lower while USD/CAD is trading 0.12% lower on moderating oil. Else, EUR/USD is down 0.07% and GBP/USD down 0.13%.
North American session
The USD remained mostly firm in North America though USD/JPY, after rising to a high of 161.90, slipped to 161.25 before moving back above 161.50. EUR/USD moved lower to near 1.1420 from above 1.1460. GBP/USD however was stable near 1.1325 as EUR/GBP fell to .8625 from .8675 in the European morning. EUR/CHF was also softer, near .9240 from .9260.
There was no significant US data but Canadian CPI was stronger than expected in May, rising to 3.2% yr/yr from 3.0%, though CPI-Median at 2.1% and CPI-Trim at 2.0% were unchanged from April. USD/CAD was little changed, as was AUD/USD, which remained near .70 though seeing a fresh nudge below in late trade.