Asia Summary and Highlights 24 December

Asia Session

While we are getting closer to Christmas, there is no rest for Japan Finance Minister Kato as he is doing the usual verbal intervening routine. There is also no surprise from the October BoJ summary. Still, the JPY is getting minor support and see USD/JPY down 0.09% to 157.01 as U.S. Treasury Yields lower and JGB yields higher.

The December RBA minutes suggest upside inflation risks had diminished and downside risk to Q4 inflation. It seems to be an overall dovish take and could see easing as early as February if data allows. Regional sentiment is upbeat while U.S. three major equity indexes are mixed. AUD/USD is down 0.2% to 0.6236, NZD/USD is down 0.06% to 0.5645 while USD/CAD rose 0.1% with softer oil. Else, EUR/USD is down 0.09% and GBP/USD is unchanged.