Asia Summary and Highlights 17 Feb
RBA minutes show inflation risks ‘shifted materially’ behind February rate hike
Asia Session
Bloomberg reported that ex BoJ board member Seiji Adachi believe that April would be the best time BoJ to hike by another 25bps and suggest 1.25% to be the new neutral rate. The timing is good as the srping wage negotiation will likely be concluded in late March. JPY bidders reacted strongly to the headline. USD/JPY is trading 0.37% lower at 152.94 after touching at session high at 153.75.
The February RBA minutes showed that "risks to inflation and employment had shifted materially”. There is no preset path and thus forward guidance remain data dependent. U.S. major equity indexes and Japanese equities are in the red while some Asia countries are still observing the Lunar New Year. AUD/USD is trading 0.2% lower at 0.7059. NZD/USD is trading 0.04% lower while USD/CAD rises 0.05%. Else, EUR/USD is down 0.1% and GBP/USD is down 0.18%.