Asia Summary and Highlights 3 Apr

Asia Session

On Wednesday, it is recorded there is an earthquake with magnitude of 7.5 and more near Taiwan, with tsunami affecting Japan and the Philippines. We haven't heard any major destruction yet and this the market response is muted so far. The BoJ continued to buy JGB as the same amount as previous purchase and see JGB yields closing the opening gap.  With U.S. Treasury Yields slightly higher, USD/JPY is trading merely 0.02% higher at 151.58.

China Caixin Services PMI came in slightly higher than estimate at 52.7 but both the regional and global sentiment is soft. AUD/USD slipped 0.03% to 0.6516 while NZD/USD rose 0.05% to 0.5973 and USD/CAD up 0.05% to 1.3573. The communication between Xi and Biden does not seem to yield much but the willingness to communicate should be treated as a positive sign. EUR/USD is up 0.05% and GBP/USD is down 0.01%.

North American session

In a quiet session the USD saw modest losses, with USD/JPY seeing a brief dip below 151.50 while EUR/USD peaked at 1.0779 before correcting to near 1.0760. GBP and AUD sustained European gains but USD/CAD reversed most of its European losses. Equities were weaker.

February JOLTS data saw job openings in line with expectations, up 8k to 8756k though January was revised down from 8863k to 8748k. A 1.4% rise in February factory orders was slightly stronger than expected. Fed speakers Mester and Daly, both voters, this year, saw little urgency to cut rates though expect easing will be seen this year. None of this had any significant market impact. Wednesday has a busier calendar of Fed speakers, including Powell who will speak on the economic outlook