Asia Summary and Highlights 12 Feb
Atsushi Mimura reiterates high-urgency monitoring stance
Bloomberg reports Hedge funds boost yen bets as buy Japan trade strengthens
Asia Session
Despite USD/JPY down three days in a row, Japanese officials are keep their verbal intervention pressure. It seems to be an act of commitment to show Japanese residents, the government is trying to avoid excessive weakening of the JPY. In the mean time, the speculative story seems to change to favor the JPY with Bloomberg reporting hedge funds are once again building their JPY long position. USD/JPY is trading 0.03% higher at 153.34 after dipping a figure lower before.
The SCMP reported that Trump and Xi may be having a trade truce at least until April’s Beijing meeting. However, there seems to be little optimism read by market participants as we see major equity indexes are performing individually. AUD/USD is trading 0.03% lower at 0.7125. NZD/USD is trading 0.06% lower while USD/CAD is trading 0.06% higher. Else, EUR/USD is down 0.11% and GBP/USD is down 0.11%.
European and North American sessions
Ahead of the US non-farm payroll, the USD had been moving higher, USD/JPY rising to 153.60 from around 153, EUR/USD back at 1.19 after peaking at 1.1927 and USD/CAD at 1.3565 after finding support near 1.35, with a report that Trump was considering scrapping the USMCA trade deal.
The US employment data was stronger across the board, with the non-farm payroll up by 130k, unemployment falling to 4.3% from 4.4% and average hourly earnings up by 0.4%. USD/JPY spiked to 154.65 but reversed quickly, falling as low as 152.56 before edging back above 153. EUR/USD dropped to a low of 1.1822 but corrected more gradually, to around 1.1875 with EUR/JPY falling below 182. EUR/GBP erased losses below .87 while EUR/CHF was firmer near .9155 from .9125. USD/CAD saw highs above 1.36 before moving back to near pre-data levels. AUD/USD was marginally firmer, a dip below 0.71 on the data not sustained.