There
was some FX movement during the session here even as traders looked
ahead to the US employment report due later on Friday.
AUD
and NZD were out-performers awaiting a news conference called in
China by the State Planner, the National Development and Reform
Commission of the People’s Republic of China (NDRC), and the People’s
Bank of China. The conference, at 10am Beijing time, resulted in
further vague promises and piecemeal proposals. AUD and NZD dribbled
back lower to retrace some of their gain on a ‘sell the fact’
basis.
From
the Reserve Bank of Australia today we got the latest Statement on
Monetary Policy (SoMP). There was little market-moving new
information in it. The Statement repeated that the full impact of the
rate hike cycle so far in Australia has yet to be seen and that rates
would rise higher if needed. The revised forecasts indicated a still
slow glide path lower for CPI, still above 3% at the end of 2024
according to the revised projections. The bottom line is still a
hawkish bias at the RBA but a weaker one.
Asian
equity markets:
-
Japan’s Nikkei 225 -0.1%
-
China’s Shanghai Composite +0.2%
-
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng +0.9%
-
South Korea’s KOSPI +0.2%
-
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 -0.2%
US data tonight is a focus, July jobs report. Due at 8.30 am US Eastern time and 12.30 pm GMT.
There are previews in the points above: