Asia Summary and Highlights 20 Aug

Asia Session

The RBNZ has cut as expected by 25bps but is signaling more cuts to come as OCR forecast is being revised lower roughly 50bps lower. It came as a dovish surprise and sunk Kiwi along with it. The biggest surprise, perhaps, is the fact that 50bps are being considered in this meeting, showing the magnitude of concern in RBNZ's eyes. NZD/USD slumped by 1.11% to 0.5827. AUD/USD also 0.14% lower at 0.6445 while USD/CAD is up 2 pips to 1.3871.

The July Japan trade data is disappointing as export fell by 2.6% y/y, so as the 7.5% contraction in import. It seems to suggest tariff is showing a significant impact for export to the U.S. fell by 10%, compared to 3% dropp toward E.U. and China. USD/JPY is trading 0.11% lower at 147.51. Else, EUR/USD is down 0.07% and GBP/USD is down 0.09%.