Asia Summary and Highlights 11 September

Asia Session

BoJ policy board member Junko Nakagawa reinforced the latest hawkish BoJ rhetoric by almost repeating what other BoJ members and Ueda said, "appropriate to adjust monetary policy if economic picture aligns with forecast".  It seems to suggest the BoJ is comfortable to hike again either in the coming or next meeting. USD/JPY moved to test yearly low at 141.04 currently, down 0.97% for the session while both the U.S. Treasury and JGB Yields are lower.

Broad risk sentiment is soft as we see major equity indexes mostly in the red, led by the fall with regional equities index HSI. The AUD/USD is dragged lower despite softer USD against majors to trade 3 pips lower at 0.6652, NZD/USD is down 0.13% at 0.6141 while USD/CAD slips 0.06%. Else, EUR/USD is up 0.24% and GBP/USD is up 0.15%.

North American session

In a session with little news price action was consistent with risk off sentiment ahead of Wednesday’s US CPI release, with USD/JPY slipping below 142.50 from near 143 and the commodity currencies losing ground. USD/CAD bounced to 1.36 from 1.3575 though AUD/USD slippage below .6650 was subsequently reversed. EUR/USD was little changed near 1.1025. EUR/GBP was unable to sustain a recovery and EUR/CHF was weaker near .9335.

August’s NFIB index of Small Business Optimism corrected from four straight gains, slipping to 91.2 from 93.7. Equities were mixed but UST yields were lower.