The
G3 central bank meetings this week:
- Federal
Open Market Committee (FOMC) on Wednesday, European
Central Bank on
Thursday, and the Bank of Japan on Friday
put
a dampener on major FX volatility during the session.
The
announcement from China’s Politburo promising more support for the
Chinese economy provided a regional focus though. See the bullets
above for more on the Politburo announcements (be aware details are
basically non-existent still). In addition measures should include:
- addressing
local debt risks through a comprehensive debt resolution plan - putting
job stability at a higher, strategic level - real
estate policy to be adjusted promptly, replacing the previous “not
for speculation” rhetoric
Chinese
property developer stocks in Hong Kong and on mainland exchanges
rallied sharply. Chinese equity markets rallied more broadly also.
The
yuan traded higher, helped along by another strong mid rate fixing
from the People’s Bank of China (500+ points lower than the
estimate for USD/CNY). The yuan also found bids from large Chinese
state banks who were actively intervening to support the yuan by
selling USD/CNY and USD/CNH.
China-proxy
FX such as AUD and NZD also gained, though not nearly to the same
extent as the yuan.
Asian
equity markets:
-
Japan’s Nikkei 225 -0.3%
-
China’s Shanghai Composite +1.6%
-
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng +3.2%
-
South Korea’s KOSPI +0.1%
-
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 +0.4%