Asia Summary and Highlights 29 April

Asia Session

Early polls are suggesting Carney's led Liberal will win the Canadian election. It is also saying likely Liberals will win minority. The sentiment shifted when the early results from Quebec came in. USD/CAD is reverted the early dip to trade 0.26% higher at 1.3866. The weakening in the Loonie seems to be driven by the likelihood of Liberals will need to seek co-operation from the NDP once again to form a government. 

We will likely be hearing more from the tariff man on autos soon. It is reported that he is expected to ease on the magnitude of tariffs on auto. U.S. major equity indexes are all trading higher while regional equities moving closer to unchanged respectively in China, Hong Kong and Japan. The Japanese economy would welcome an easing of auto tariffs as they are to hit them hard. USD/JPY  is trading 0.36% higher at 142.49. Else, Aussie is down 0.28%, NZD down 0.44%, EUR and GBP down 0.3% against the USD.

North American session

The USD was generally weak on a day when UST yields slipped and equities struggled. The move was assisted by a very weak Dallas Fed manufacturing index of -35.8 in April versus -16.3 in March. USD/JPY led the way falling to near 142 from 143.50. EUR/USD and GBP/USD sustained moves above 1.14 and 1.34 respectively after being initially rebuffed at the first attempt. The USD also slipped against the commodity currencies, losses regaining momentum in late trade as equities came off their lows.