Clone - Asia Open - Overnight Highlights

EMERGING ASIA

EM currencies perform individually against the USD as the greenback stays volatile and weakened initially on weaker data but managed to claw back some lost grounds. SGD saw the largest gains of 0.31%, followed by PHP 0.30%, KRW 0.21%,  IDR 0.1%, INR 0.08%, THB 0.04%; the biggest loser is CNY by 0.16%, TWD 0.12%, HKD 0.02% and CNH 0.01%.

USD/CNH is trading higher at 7.1878 compared to the 7.1872 at previous close. Onshore spot USD/CNY is trading higher 7.1805 compared to the 7.1689 at previous close. 12 month NDF diverged from both the on/offshore market and is trading lower  at 6.9999 compared to 7.0020 previous closed.

USD/IDR spot market is trading lower at 15765 from 15783 previously closed. 1 month NDF is trading lower at 15733 from 15775 previous closed.

USD/INR onshore spot market is trading lower at 82.97 from 83.04. 1 month NDF is trading higher at 83.18 from 82.94 previously closed.

NA Session

The USD fell back across the board through the North American session, with EUR/USD gaining around 70 pips and USD/JPY losing 70 pips, while GBP/USD was the best performer, gaining a big figure to 1.2750. 

The USD suffered from another rise in initial and continuing claims, and further declines in US yields, despite a stronger than expected ISM survey of 49.1, where both new orders and prices paid saw significant gains above neutral. Lower than expected unit labour costs for Q4, up only 0.5% annualized, worries about the US banking sector, and lower oil prices also contributed to the decline. UST yields came off the lows later in the session, but only USD/JPY saw a significant correction.

GBP strength was helped by the Bank of England statement, which, although it removed the bias to tighten, still indicated that the current market pricing of a relatively hawkish Bank of England (compared to the Fed and ECB) was in line with its thinking.