Asia Summary and Highlights 2 Jan

Asia Session

USD is trading broadly higher against most major peers on the first official trading day of the year. There seems to be haven bids on the greenback as Houthi leadership openly suggest military operation against the U.S. over the weekend. In the past months, U.S. have constrained their military action in the Middle East to avoid further escalation of geopolitical conflict, the latest development may see a change of that and granted some haven bids for the USD. There is no headlines from the Japan side apart from earthquake over the weekend, which the market has quickly shaken off the impact, and we will not be expecting any cues unless wage and inflation metrics surprise strongly to the upside. For USD/JPY, it would be directed by yields and flow for now. USD/JPY is trading 0.32% higher at 141.44.

The Chinese Caixin (Private) Manufacturing Monthly PMI showed a beat of estimate at 50.8, better than the official PMI released over the weekend that shows a further contraction. The Aussie is supported by higher commodity price on heightened geopolitical tension and "better" Chinese data, including domestic demand in traveling throughout the new year. AUD/USD is trading 0.23% higher at 0.6827 as the sole winner within major peers against the USD, NZD/USD dipped by 0.26% to 0.6310 while USD/CAD also rose by 0.06% to 1.3251. Elsewhere, EUR/USD is trading 0.07% lower and GBP/USD 0.02% lower.