Asia Open - Overnight Highlights

EMERGING ASIA

EM currencies perform mostly stronger against the USD as the tariff man latest rhetoric on reciprocal tariff does not seem to be as pressing as it seems and see risk asset supported, along with falling U.S. Treasury Yields. The biggest winner are THB by 0.6%, followed by IDR 0.58%, KRW 0.51%, MYR 0.44%, CNY 0.42%, PHP 0.38%, SGD 0.31%, CNH 0.17%, TWD 0.11%, INR 0.07% and HKD by 0.05%.

USD/CNH is trading lower at 7.2578 from 7.2699 previously closed. Onshore spot market is trading lower at 7.2572 from 7.2879 previously closed. 12 month NDF followed both the on/offshore market and is trading lower at 7.0894 compared to 7.0975 previously closed.

USD/IDR spot market is trading lower at 16251 from 16361 previously closed. 1 month NDF is trading lower at 16204 from 16281 previously closed.

USD/INR onshore spot market is trading lower at 86.82 from 86.90 previously closed. 1 month NDF is trading lower at 86.95 from 86.92 previously closed.

NA Session

January US retail sales were significantly weaker than expected, falling by 0.9% overall, by 0.4% ex autos and 0.5% ex autos and gasoline. UST yields dipped in response, and USD/JPY saw a quick slide from 152.75 to near 152 before a modest correction. The USD saw weakness elsewhere, but the moves were more gradual, with EUR/USD seeing highs above 1.05, GBP/USD seeing highs above 1.26 and AUD/USD moving above 0.6350. USD/CAD saw only marginal losses, finding support at 1.4150. 

After the retail sales report, January US industrial production saw a 0.5% rise overall but a 0.1% decline in manufacturing. The afternoon saw Trump threaten auto tariffs in early April.