Asia Summary and Highlights 17 September

Asia Session

The USD/JPY spike to 141.24 in early Asia did not last and has since reversed traction. The up move seems to be triggered by Suzuki's verbal intervention towards the recent JPY strength. Furthermore, he said he is analyzing the impact of the strengthening yen. USD/JPY is back to unchanged at 140.61 after early volatility by Asia noon. The market seems to be agreeing with our view that the BoJ is not going to change rates in the coming meeting as we see U.S. Treasury Yields are higher across the curve while JGB yield slide.

Regional sentiment is mixed on Tuesday Asia so far with HSI in the green and Japanese equity indexes in the red. As China is still observing its holiday, major FX pairs are range bounded except for the JPY. AUD/USD is down 0.13% to 0.6743, NZD/USD is down 0.2% to 0.6189 while USD/CAD rose 0.07%. Else, EUR/USD is down 0.08% and GBP/USD is down 0.12%.

North American session

The USD showed some gains versus the JPY and CAD but little change elsewhere. USD/JPY bounced back above 140 on an unexpected positive September Empire State manufacturing index of 11.5 versus -4.7 in August, though gains peaked just below 141. USD/CAD briefly traded above 1.36 assisted by reports BoC Governor Macklem was open to more aggressive easing. EUR/USD remained stable near 1.1125.