Preliminary
GDP data for Japan in the January – March quarter was released
today, coming in well above expectations at +0.4% q/q (versus the
+0.1% that was the median consensus).
While
this is a solid expectation beat its still not overly quick growth,
but it’s the first positive for 3 quarters. USD/JPY
hasn’t done much in response. Up a few points from earlier lows but
still under its Tuesday (US time) high.
From
Australia today we had wages data, which came in subdued. The
Australian dollar dipped a little after the numbers but has since
recovered and is net a little higher on the session.
NZD/USD
rallied with another bank in New Zealand forecasting further rate
hikes to come from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, both this month
and at the following meeting in July.
There
was little news nor data of impact otherwise. China house price
growth, April data, came in positive on a m/m basis but the number of
cities showing rises fell in comparison to March.
We
had comments out of the participants in US debt ceiling negotiations.
There is still no resolution in sight based on the remarks, which
were mixed. US President Biden is heading off to the G7 summit in
Japan that begins on Friday. He had intended visits to Papua New
Guinea and Australia following this but cancelled these plans to head
back to Washington for more debt talks.
The
offshore yuan traded at around 7.01 vs the US dollar, heading
above the psychological
big
round number
level of 7 for the first time since December 28.
Asian
equity markets:
-
Japan’s Nikkei 225 +0.66%
-
China’s Shanghai Composite -0.17%
-
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng -0.24%
-
South Korea’s KOSPI +0.6%
-
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 -0.5%
USD/CNH: