Asia Open - Overnight Highlights

EMERGING ASIA

EM currencies perform mostly stronger against the USD as the greenback remains going back and forth on the ebb and flows of tariff headlines. The biggest winners are MYR by 0.31%, followed by THB 0.29%, INR 0.27%, PHP 0.24%, IDR 0.21%, SGD 0.17%, TWD 0.08% and HKD 0.01%; while the largest losers are KRW 0.13%, CNY 0.06% and CNH by 0.02%.

USD/CNH is trading higher at 7.2452 from 7.2441 previously closed. Onshore spot market is trading higher at 7.2440 from 7.2423 previously closed. 12 month NDF diverged from both the on/offshore market and is trading lower at 7.0743 compared to 7.0755 previously closed.

USD/IDR spot market is trading lower at 16295 from 16340 previously closed. 1 month NDF is trading lower at 16314 from 16345 previously closed.

USD/INR onshore spot market is trading lower at 86.88 from 87.11 previously closed. 1 month NDF is trading higher at 87.36 from 87.34 previously closed.

NA Session

US employment data was on the weak side of expectations, with a 151k February increase, a 0.3% rise in average hourly earnings and a rise in unemployment to 4.1% from 4.0%, but not dramatically. USD/JPY slipped briefly below 147 from 147.75 and EUR/USD saw a brief bounce to a high of 1.0889 from 1.0855, though this was reversed and EUR/USD traded a narrow range for the rest of the session. GBP/USD and AUD/USD also struggled for direction. 

USD/JPY picked up from near the lows to 148 after comments from Fed’s Powell, who said the Fed was well positioned to wait for greater clarity, lifting both UST yields and equites. USD/CAD rose to a high of 1.4426 from 1.4435 after a weak 1.1k rise in February Canadian employment, and threats from Trump to impose reciprocal tariffs immediately, but erased the majority of the rise after Powell’s comments.