Asia Open - Overnight Highlights

EMERGING ASIA

EM currencies perform mostly weaker against the USD as the greenback received haven bids on potential Iran attack on Israel. KRW saw the largest losses of 0.81%, followed by SGD 0.61%, MYR 0.48%, INR 0.27%, TWD 0.23%, CNH 0.16% and PHP 0.06%; the only winners is HKD 0.01%.

USD/CNH is trading higher at 7.2673 compared to the 7.2558 at previously closed. Onshore spot USD/CNY is trading higher at 7.2373 from 7.2370. 12 month NDF followed both the on/offshore market and is trading higher at 7.0583 compared to 7.0439 previously closed.

USD/IDR spot market is trading lower at 15848 from 15893 previously closed. 1 month NDF is trading lower at 15905 from 15914 previously closed.

USD/INR onshore spot market is tradi lower at 83.29 from 83.44. 1 month NDF is trading lower at 83.38 from 83.55 previously closed.

NA Session

The USD traded higher through the North American session, steadily against most currencies though USD/JPY saw an early slide to a low of 152.59 largely reversed, returning to around 153.25. Equity weakness was the focus given fears that Iran might shortly attack Israel, with additional anxiety over banking sector earnings. AUD/USD was particularly weak, falling to .6460, while USD/CAD rose to 1.3775. EUR/USD stabilized in the afternoon after reaching a low of 1.0623 while GBP/USD bottomed at 1.2427, as EUR/GBP reversed European losses.

News had little impact. April’s preliminary Michigan CSI dipped to 77.9 from 79.4 but the 5-10 year inflation view rose to 3.0% from 2.8%. The most notable Fed speaker was probably Schmid, who sounded quite hawkish suggesting rates would stay higher for longer. Collins, Goolsbee, Bostic and Daly also spoke, but their tone was similar to their recent comments, also with few dovish signals.