Asia Open - Overnight Highlights

EMERGING ASIA

EM currencies perform mostly stronger against the USD as the greenback tilt softer before heading into Christmas holiday. THB saw the largest gains of 0.62%, followed by MYR 0.56%, PHP 0.34%, IDR 0.27%, TWD 0.26%, SGD 0.19%, KRW 0.18%, INR 0.15% and CNY 0.03%; while the biggest loser is CNH 0.15% and HKD 0.03%.

USD/CNH is trading lower at 7.1544 compared to the 7.1436 at previous close. Onshore spot USD/CNY is trading lower at 7.1358 from 7.1378 . 12 month NDF followed the offshore market and is trading lower at 6.9786 compared to 6.9689 previous closed.

USD/IDR spot market is trading higher at 15484 from 15525 last closed. 1 month NDF is trading lower at 15478 from 15458 previous closed.

USD/INR onshore spot market is trading higher at 83.15 from 83.27. 1 month NDF is trading higher at 83.34 from 83.33 previously closed.

Major

The USD had a slightly softer tone heading in to the US data, which saw November durable goods orders well above expectations with a rise of 5.4%, 0.5% ex transport, but a softer than expected 0.1% increase in November’s core PCE price index. The USD saw a quick spike that was rapidly reversed, leaving the USD near pre-data levels, EUR/USD a little above 1.10 and USD/JPY near 142.
USD/CAD saw the largest move, sliding to a low of 1.3219 from around 1.3275 despite an unchanged Canadian GDP outcome for October being weaker than expected.
Later US new home sales fell sharply by 12.2% to 590k but there was little market response, and the USD subsequently corrected higher. EUR/USD remained near 1.10 but USD/JPY advanced to 142.50 while USD/CAD retraced most of its losses as gains in the oil price faded.