Asia Summary and Highlights 27 December

Asia Session

Back from Christmas and we are already hearing from Japan finance minister Kato that he is alarmed by FX moves, driven by speculators, the common verbal intervention. Combined with strong Tokyo CPI, headline at 3% y/y and ex fresh food & energy at 2.4%, USD/JPY has rotated from high of 157.94 60 157.59 currently, down 0.21% for the session as JGB beats U.S. Treasury yields for the session.

Despite poor Chinese industrial report, Chinese equities are still performing. Regional equities are mostly positive with Japanese equities leading and HK's lagging. U.S. major equity indexes are mostly little changed. The AUD/USD is down 0.11% to 0.6213, NZD/USD is down 0.06% to 0.5620 while USD/CAD is unchanged. Else, EUR/USD is down 0.12% and GBP/USD down 0.02%.