Asia Summary and Highlights 4 December

Asia Session

The USD/JPY has another test against the 150 figure that failed initially but has got its foothold by lunch time in Hong Kong. While both the U.S. Treasury and JGB yields are retreating, the JGB yields are falling at faster pace than their U.S. counterpart which seems to drive the move. USD/JPY is trading 0.25% higher at 149.96. 

The Q3 GDP for Australia is a miss at 0.3% versus 0.4% expected. Household spending is a laggard as Australians deal with high inflationary pressure. The poor consumption sentiment shall drive the inflationary pressure lower in a near term and could lead to the RBA easing earlier than RBA's currently forecast. AUD/USD is down 0.78% to 0.6436, NZD/USD is down 0.47% to 0.5853 while USD/CAD slipped 0.02% only. Else, EUR/USD and GBP/USD are both up 0.06%.

North American session

The USD ended not much changed after a choppy session. Early on the imposition of martial law in South Korea led to USD/JPY dropping to a low of 148.65 as UST yields slipped, but the USD then received support from stronger than expected US job openings data, up by 372k in October after a 498k September decline. This saw EUR/USD falling below 1.05 and USD/CAD up to 1.4075. 

The USD saw some losses in mid-session, with comments from Fed speakers Daly and Kugler being moderately dovish, EUR/USD reaching a high of 1.0535 and GBP/USD touching 1.27. Late in the session South Korea announced that martial law would be lifted, after a vote against it in parliament, and USD/JPY recovered to near 149.50. EUR/USD and GBP/USD moved off their highs, but USD/CAD remained firmer, as was AUD/CAD.