Asia Summary and Highlights 23 Jan

Asia Session

As most expected, the BoJ meeting on Tuesday do not see any fireworks. There is no change to monetary policy and forward guidance while the BoJ patiently waiting for the spring wage negotiation to confirm the momentum in wage growth. Apart from monetary policy, the BoJ has revised fiscal 2024 CPI less fresh food revised lower to 2.4% from 2.8%. USD/JPY initially spiked to 148.54 before trading lower at 147.96, down 0.08% for the session with U.S. Treasury Yields lower across the curve so as 10yr JGB. 

Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that China is planning a stock market rescue package backed by $278 bln, mainly from the offshore accounts of Chinese state-owned enterprises, as part of a stabilization fund to buy shares onshore through the Hong Kong exchange link. Regional sentiment improve substantially and rebounded from yearly low. AUD/USD is trading 0.55% higher at 0.6605, NZD/USD is also 0.47% higher at 0.6104 while USD/CAD is 0.14% lower at 1.3460. Elsewhere, EUR/USD is up 0.19% and GBP/USD is 0.21% higher.

North American session
It was a quiet session in North America, with no data or news of note. While there was little movement in equities, the commodity currencies saw some slippage, USD/CAD rising to 1.3480 from 1.3415 and AUD/USD slipping to 0.6570 from 0.6595. USD/JPY edged above 148 while EUR/USD remained slightly weaker after failing to regain the 1.09 level. GBP/USD was marginally firmer, but came off its highs in late trade.