Asia Summary and Highlights 12 Sep
Japan and the US have reaffirmed their agreement not to manipulate FX rates
Asia Session
The Japan and U.S. finance minister have exchanged comments on the commitment of G7 currency policy and stated that Japan will not manipulate FX rates. That is the official rhetoric but we all know BoJ does not like spikes of any direction for the JPY. USD/JPY is trading 0.22% higher at 147.53.
The broader risk mood is upbeat on Friday's Asia session despite Mexico increased tariffs on China. HSI and Nikkei are leading with almost about 1% gains while U.S. major equity indexes and Chinese equities are in the green. AUD/USD is trading 0.03% higher at 0.6662, NZD/USD is trading 0.14% lower at 0.5968 while USD/CAD rises 0.05%. Else, EUR/USD is down 0.08% and GBP/USD is down 0.16%.
North American session
The ECB left policy unchanged as expected. The EUR saw a marginal dip on the decision, EUR/USD to 1.1665 from 1.1685, but by the end of the session EUR/GBP, EUR/CHF and EUR/JPY were all little changed.
August US CPI was on the firm side of expectations with a 0.4% rise and a 0.3% core rate 0.346% before rounding. However, markets were more focused on a sharp spike in initial claims to 263k from 236k. EUR/USD rallied to 1.1735 as the USD slipped across the board. USD/JPY fell to 147.20 from 147.85, AUD/USD rallied to .6660 from .66 while USD/CAD fell to 1.3840 from 1.3885.