Major
forex rates traded in small ranges only today as traders in the
region assessed the stunning jobs numbers from the US on Thursday and
what the implications may be for the nonfarm payroll report due
Friday morning US time.
Data
locally in the timezone was from Japan, showing negative real wage
growth and sliding household spending. While the next Bank of Japan
meeting is not until the end of this month (July 27 and 28) the data
today does not suggest the Bank will be in a rush to tighten. Indeed,
we had a report in Japanese media (Nikkei) today with remarks from
Bank of Japan Deputy Governor Uchida saying “We will continue
YCC” for the time being. Of course, this does not entirely rule
out some sort of tweak to the policy.
USD/JPY
traded down to lows circa 143.80 before rebounding to be just over
144.00 as I post.
News
flow was barely noticeable.
The
PBOC once again set the USD/CNY reference rate lower than was
expected.
USD/CNH update: