Asia Open - Overnight Highlights

EMERGING ASIA
EM currencies perform mostly weaker against the USD as the greenback continues its recovery along with Treasury Yields and stronger employment report. THB saw the largest losses of 0.78%, followed by MYR 0.44%, KRW 0.42%, IDR 0.16%, PHP 0.13%, TWD 0.05%, HKD 0.04% and SGD 0.02%; while the only winners are CNY 0.19%, CNH 0.17% and INR 0.08%.

USD/CNH is trading lower at 7.1627 compared to the 7.1752 at previous close. Onshore spot USD/CNY is trading lower at 7.1471 from 7.1608. 12 month NDF followed the offshore market and is trading lower at 6.9850 compared to 6.9936 previous closed.
USD/IDR spot market is trading higher at 15516 from 15491 previously closed. 1 month NDF is trading higher at 15521 from 15519 previous closed.
USD/INR onshore spot market is trading lower at 83.16 from 83.23. 1 month NDF is trading lower at 83.21 from 83.35 previously closed.

NA Session

The USD had a choppy North American session. It initially gained some ground on the US employment report which as mildly on the strong side of expectations, but failed to hold onto gains, and fell sharply after the ISM services sector data, which came in on the weak side of expectations. However, those sharp losses were largely corrected by the end of the session. Overall the USD was marginally weaker. GBP and AUD led the way. EUR/USD gains were more modest, stalling as 1.10 approached. USD/JPY and USD/CAD saw little net change.
December’s non-farm payroll increase of 216k, 164k private, was on the firm side of consensus but the upside surprise was more than offset by 71k in net downward revisions, mostly in October. Unemployment, unchanged at 3.7%, was lower than expected and average hourly earnings at +0.4% were stronger than expected, but a fall in the workweek hints at economic slowing.
December’s ISM services index of 50.6 from 52.7 is significantly weaker than expected with weakness particularly pronounced in employment, which at 43.3 from 50.7 presents a very different picture from the non-farm payroll, and is likely to be understated.
Canadian employment was almost unchanged in December, weaker than expected, but wage growth accelerated significantly, to 5.7% yr/yr from 5.0%.