Asia Summary and Highlights 11 Aug

Asia Session

Over the weekend, it is reported that Nvidia, AMD to pay 15% export tax to U.S. government. It is part of a deal to grant them export license to China, the 15% revenue tax will be mostly of Nvidia's H2O and AMD's MI308 chip. The news gave a poor start for U.S. tech equities and see USD jumped higher in early Asia. USD/JPY opened 15 pips lower at 147.54 before trading 0.17% lower at 147.46.

The Hong Kong High Court has ordered the liquidation of South City, the largest since Evergrande. China South City has failed to secure creditor backing its restructure after months of negotiation. Regional equities does not seem be affected significantly yet as the property sector has not been upbeat for a while. AUD/USD is trading 0.04% higher at 0.6524, NZD/USD is trading unchanged at 0.5953 while USD/CAD slips 0.05%. Else, EUR/USD is up 0.3% and GBP/USD is up 0.12%.

North American session

Canadian employment fell by a surprisingly steep 40.8k in July to correct a rise of 83.1k in June though the unemployment rate was unchanged at 6.9%. USD/CAD bounced to 1.3760 from 1.3730.  

Otherwise, movements were minimal with USD/JPY stable near 147.75. Marginal EUR/USD gains above 1.1650 may have been supported by growing hopes for a ceasefire in Ukraine but these were erased late in the day. The WSJ reported that Trump was considering former St Louis Fed President James Bullard and Marc Sumerlin, who served in the George W Bush administration, for Fed Chairman. These may have been seen by the market as unlikely to be wholly subservient to Trump, and thus USD supportive.