Asia Summary and Highlights 30 May

Asia Session

USD/JPY broke higher on Wednesday to a high of 157.7, a zone very close to the second round of latest intervention from the BoJ. The concern of another round of intervention, despite the lack of verbal escalation, seems to have driven some longs to take profit off the table before the weekend. 10yr JGB yields retreated from above 1.1% while U.S. Treasury Yields are performing individually.  USD/JPY is trading 0.23% lower at 157.25.

China has lifted bans on beef shipments from five major Australian meat producers, which were imposed in 2020-21 and should be read as a positive sign in further defrosting the China-Australia relationship. But the Aussie is being dragged by softer regional risk sentiment and see AUD/USD slips 0.09% to 0.6604, NZD/USD dipped 0.25% to 0.6100 while USD/CAD rose 0.05% with oil slipping fifteen cents. Else, EUR/USD and GBP/USD is down 0.05%.

North American session

German CPI rose by 0.1% on the month with yr/yr data on consensus at 2.4% from 2.2%. HICP rose 0.2% on the month, with yr/yr data slightly stronger than expected at 2.8% from 2.4%. European yields moved higher, though so did UST yields and USD was around 0.4% stronger across the board, with equites slipping. There was no significant US data.  The Fed’s Beige Book looked very similar to the previous report.

EUR/USD slipped from 1.0850 to test 1.08 while GBP/USD slipped from 1.2750 to test 1.27. USD/JPY rose from 157.20 to 157.70. USD/CAD moved above 1.37 while AUD/USD slipped to near .6610.