Back
1 Jul 2014
Asia Recap: RBA firmly neutral, AUD boosted
FXStreet (Bali) - The Asian session was dominated by the RBA policy meeting, which reaffirmed its commitment to maintain a firm neutral stance, strengthening the Australian Dollar across the board.
AUD/USD reached its highest at 0.9450, level where sellers are still holding their ground, disallowing further progress, with stops above. The pair extended the rebound off 0.9384 low seen on Monday.
USD/JPY managed to find solid demand off 101.30 support to break the area of supply ahead of 101.50 and set a session high of 101.53. The Nikkei 225 surged over 1.5% ahead of the close, which undoubtedly helped to see a more cheerful buying mood in all Yen crosses.
EUR/USD and GBP/USD held onto recent gains, after both pairs made significant technical progress on Monday, a day in which the US Dollar was dumped across the board on major month/quarter-end flows. EUR/USD trades above 1.3675 support but still capped by 1.37, while GBP/USD found a technical base circa 1.70 during Asia. Lastly, the NZD/USD ends near 0.8750 after finding decent selling interest at the 0.8770 vicinity.
On the fundamental front, Aus AiG Performance of Mfg Index (Jun) came at 48.9 vs 49.2 last, representing the 8th consecutive month of contraction. In Japan, the majority of the important Tankan indexes disappointed, suggesting that the BoJ won't be satisfied with the results, although further easing expectation short term remain very low at this point. In other data out of Japan, Labor Cash Earnings (YoY) (May) was +0.8% vs +0.7% last, with Nomura/ JMMA Manufacturing Purchasing Manager Index (Jun) at 51.5 vs 51.1 last. In China, the official government NBS Manufacturing PMI (Jun) came at 51.0 vs 50.8 last, with the final HSBC Manufacturing PMI (Jun) at +50.7 vs 50.8 prior estimate and 49.4 in May.
Main headlines in Asia (in chronological order)
Australian Manufacturing Index in contraction for 8th consecutive month
Japan Tankan Large Manufacturing Outlook came in at 15, below expectations (17) in 2Q
Japan Tankan Non - Manufacturing Outlook registered at 19, below expectations (21) in 2Q
Japan Tankan Large All Industry Capex came in at 7.4%, above forecasts (6%) in 2Q
Japan Tankan Non - Manufacturing Index meets expectations (19) in 2Q
Japan Tankan Large Manufacturing Index came in at 12, below expectations (15) in 2Q
China NBS Manufacturing PMI up to 51 in June from previous 50.8
Japan Nomura/ JMMA Manufacturing Purchasing Manager Index rose from previous 51.1 to 51.5 in June
Japan Labor Cash Earnings (YoY) increased to 0.8% in May from previous 0.7%
HSBC Flash China PMI at 50.7, significant improvement confirmed
Japan: Inflation expectations rise – Nomura
RBA reaffirms firm neutral stance, uncomfortable with high AUD
AUD/USD reached its highest at 0.9450, level where sellers are still holding their ground, disallowing further progress, with stops above. The pair extended the rebound off 0.9384 low seen on Monday.
USD/JPY managed to find solid demand off 101.30 support to break the area of supply ahead of 101.50 and set a session high of 101.53. The Nikkei 225 surged over 1.5% ahead of the close, which undoubtedly helped to see a more cheerful buying mood in all Yen crosses.
EUR/USD and GBP/USD held onto recent gains, after both pairs made significant technical progress on Monday, a day in which the US Dollar was dumped across the board on major month/quarter-end flows. EUR/USD trades above 1.3675 support but still capped by 1.37, while GBP/USD found a technical base circa 1.70 during Asia. Lastly, the NZD/USD ends near 0.8750 after finding decent selling interest at the 0.8770 vicinity.
On the fundamental front, Aus AiG Performance of Mfg Index (Jun) came at 48.9 vs 49.2 last, representing the 8th consecutive month of contraction. In Japan, the majority of the important Tankan indexes disappointed, suggesting that the BoJ won't be satisfied with the results, although further easing expectation short term remain very low at this point. In other data out of Japan, Labor Cash Earnings (YoY) (May) was +0.8% vs +0.7% last, with Nomura/ JMMA Manufacturing Purchasing Manager Index (Jun) at 51.5 vs 51.1 last. In China, the official government NBS Manufacturing PMI (Jun) came at 51.0 vs 50.8 last, with the final HSBC Manufacturing PMI (Jun) at +50.7 vs 50.8 prior estimate and 49.4 in May.
Main headlines in Asia (in chronological order)
Australian Manufacturing Index in contraction for 8th consecutive month
Japan Tankan Large Manufacturing Outlook came in at 15, below expectations (17) in 2Q
Japan Tankan Non - Manufacturing Outlook registered at 19, below expectations (21) in 2Q
Japan Tankan Large All Industry Capex came in at 7.4%, above forecasts (6%) in 2Q
Japan Tankan Non - Manufacturing Index meets expectations (19) in 2Q
Japan Tankan Large Manufacturing Index came in at 12, below expectations (15) in 2Q
China NBS Manufacturing PMI up to 51 in June from previous 50.8
Japan Nomura/ JMMA Manufacturing Purchasing Manager Index rose from previous 51.1 to 51.5 in June
Japan Labor Cash Earnings (YoY) increased to 0.8% in May from previous 0.7%
HSBC Flash China PMI at 50.7, significant improvement confirmed
Japan: Inflation expectations rise – Nomura
RBA reaffirms firm neutral stance, uncomfortable with high AUD