Asia Summary and Highlights 23 September

Asia Session

USD/JPY higher in the early Asia hours on Monday with broad risk mood positive. Japan's vice finance minister for international affairs Atsushi Mimura said "always watching" yen carry trade. He replaced Kanda recently and would be the person pulling the trigger for any intervention. While there seems to be some effort of verbal intervention, it seems unlikely the BoJ will intervene for JPY strength, especially after its significant weakness for the past years. USD/JPY is trading 0.22% higher at 144.17.

The risk mood continues to be mostly upbeat on Monday's Asia session. Regional sentiment seems to be supported by PBoC's cut on 14days repo rate to 1.85% from 1.95%. AUD/USD is trading 0.38% higher at 0.6833. NZD/USD also 0.18% higher at 0.6249 while USD/CAD slips 0.08% on higher oil. Else, EUR/USD is up 0.06% and GBP/USD down 0.02%. 

North American session

The USD was little changed in North America, with USD/JPY establishing a 143.50 to 144.50 range after its European gains. The USD saw some early losses, particularly versus the CAD after a stronger than expected 0.9% rise in July Canadian retail sales, but these were subsequently reversed and more. The USD however edged back down after comments from Fed’s Waller, who justified the 50bps easing on softer core PCE inflation signals. 

EUR/USD was little changed near 1.1160, and USD/JPY ended near 144. EUR/CHF was firmer near .9495 but EUR/GBP softer near .8380. AUD and CAD were little changed versus the USD, with AUD/CAD losses after the Canadian data erased.