Asia Open - Overnight Highlights

EMERGING ASIA

EM currencies are trading mostly weaker against the greenback as the USD rebound after a whole week of weakness. The biggest losers are THB 0.35%, PHP 0.34%, IDR 0.26%, MYR 0.24%, INR 0.18%, SGD 0.13%, CNY & HKD  0.06%, TWD 0.03% and CNH 0.01%; while the largest loser is KRW by 0.13%.

USD/CNH is trading lower at 6.9447 from 6.9437 previously closed. Onshore spot market is trading higher at 6.9524 from 6.9484. 12 month NDF followed the offshore market and is trading lower at 6.8157 from 6.8151 previously closed.

USD/IDR spot market is trading lower at 16750 from 16706 previously closed. 1 month NDF is trading lower at 16798 from 16759 previously closed.

USD/INR onshore spot market is trading lower at 91.95 from 91.79 previously closed. 1 month NDF is trading lower at 91.98 from 92.27 previously closed.

NA Session

The USD was little changed overall but saw some volatility as equities fell sharply after the open, led by Microsoft. While this sent UST yields lower, it gave the USD a lift, EUR/USD falling to near 1.19 from 1.1970 before finding support. The bounce in USD/JPY was however brief and stalled just short of an earlier high of 153.54 before falling sharply to a low of 152.68. Equities came off their lows and EUR/USD gradually erased most of its slide while USD/JPY moved back above 153. EUR/GBP was marginally firmer but EUR/CHF fell to .9160 from .9180. USD/CAD was softer near 1.35 with AUD/CAD falling to .95 from .9550.

US data had a limited impact but was on the weak side, November’s trade deficit of $56.8bn more than fully reversing a sharp fall to $29.2bn in October, while initial claims at 209k were higher than expected, if down from 210k in the previous week which was revised up from 200k. Oil prices were firm as risk of a US strike on Iran persisted.