Asia Open - Overnight Highlights

EMERGING ASIA

EM currencies perform mostly stronger against the USD as the greenback continue to drift lower after the less hawkish than expected FOMC. IDR saw the largest gains of 0.46%, followed by KRW 0.45%, SGD 0.44%, PHP 0.4%, CNH 0.39%, MYR 0.38%, THB 0.29%, TWD 0.18% and HKD 0.13%.

USD/CNH is trading lower at 7.2572 compared to the 7.2623 at previously closed. Onshore spot USD/CNY is trading lower at 7.2224 from 7.2267. 12 month NDF followed both the on/offshore market and is trading lower at 7.0440 compared to 7.0506 previously closed.

USD/IDR spot market is trading lower at 16185 from 16259 previously closed. 1 month NDF is trading lower at 16157 from 16240 previously closed.

USD/INR onshore spot market is trading higher at 83.46 from 83.43 previously closed. 1 month NDF is trading higher at 83.49 from 83.46 previously closed.

NA Session

The USD saw some early gains, primarily versus the European currencies, after a stronger than expected 4.7% rise in Q1 US unit labor costs and lower than expected initial jobless claims, unchanged at 208k. However the spike in UST yields on the data was not sustained, with focus remaining on the less than hawkish FOMC tone from Wednesday. The USD ended weaker across the board. 

EUR/USD rebounded to 1.0730 from a low of 1.0674 and GBP/USD rebounded to 1.2540 from a low of 1.2472. USD/JPY saw no response to the data and fell steadily lower through the session, falling over a big figure to near 153. With equities stronger the commodity currencies were firm, AUD/USD up 40 pips to .6570 and USD/CAD down 40 pips to 1.3675, despite an unexpected move in deficit from the Canadian trade balance.