WorldFirst add Hong Kong Dollar and Chinese Yuan to World Accounts
World Accounts now let your business collect funds and pay local suppliers in HKD or make payments to offshore CNY (CNH) accounts in China.
Australian, New Zealand Dollars Rise Most on Hopes for US-China Trade Deal
The Australian and New Zealand dollar currencies have been the best performing majors in recent days. Each has gained nine-tenths of a cent against the US dollar since Thursday, with appreciation fuelled by the market’s upbeat mood towards a potential US-China trade agreement.
Australian Dollar, Canadian Dollar to Outperform; Yuan at 5-Month High
The Australian dollar has rallied strongly following last Thursday’s “flash crash” and, like the Canadian dollar, is expected to outperform its peers in the near term. Investors remain willing to take on risk but the US dollar remains soft. In Asia, the yuan is expected to weaken beyond ¥7 within the next 6 months.
US Dollar Strikes 18-Month High, Will Lose Value in 2019
Against a basket of currencies, the US dollar climbed on Friday to an 18-month high as investors sought safer assets in the aftermath of disappointing economic and political developments in Europe and China. Given a growing consensus for dollar weakness in 2019, now might mark an opportune moment for exchanging dollars into foreign currency.
Dollar Strikes 16-Month High; Euro FX Down in the Dumps; Mexican Peso Falls Sharply
Developments outside the US allowed for the dollar to appreciate against a basket of currencies to a sixteen-month high on Wednesday. The ICE-maintained US dollar Index, which provides a weighted-mean measure of the greenback’s value against the euro, British pound, Swiss franc, Canadian dollar, Japanese yen and Swedish krona, traded above 97.0 for the second […]
Yuan Reaches New Low as Slowdown and Tariffs Bite; 7.0 to the Dollar Likely Next Year
Friday saw the Chinese yuan strike a 21-month low against the dollar of 6.941. A move to and perhaps through 7.0 to the dollar, which remains a symbolic level for many, now seems likely within the next year.
Yuan Finds Stability After PBOC Policy Change
The Chinese yuan posted its highest open in 4 ½-weeks on Monday, at a rate of 6.803 to the dollar. Stability in the rapidly falling yuan follows the reintroduction of the “counter-cyclical factor” by the People’s Bank of China on Friday – a sign that Chinese authorities are uncomfortable with further depreciation.
US Dollar on the March; Markets Yet to Price in Full Extent of Fed Hikes, Says SEB
The US dollar made inroads against most of the world’s currencies on Thursday as trade fears forced investors into safer assets.
Yen Is Star Performer, Yuan Devalued and Bitcoin Finds a Bottom
The Japanese yen has been the star performer of recent days and by Monday afternoon in London it was once again trading higher against most of the world’s currencies. When last seen, USD/JPY stood at 111.
Yuan and Australian Dollar Hit by Latest Round of US Tariffs
Traders offloaded Chinese yuan and Australian dollars on Wednesday after the US government said it would introduce 10 percent tariffs on a further $200 billion worth of Chinese goods.
Ruble and Rand Best Performers During Busy Week for Emerging Market FX
It was a busy week for financial markets; one in which central banks disappointed, entire countries were in crisis, new leaders were elected, commodities thrived and Trump reimposed sanctions on Iran. With that said, emerging market currencies were erratic last week, and generally lost value, none more so than the Argentine peso which fell on […]
Yuan at Strongest Since 2015, Suggestive of Chinese Bid to Avert a Trade War
In both onshore and offshore markets, the Chinese yuan climbed in the past week to its highest level against the dollar since the summer of 2015, and in doing so, posted its largest quarterly gain in a decade – a gain of 3.7%. Now worth 6.27 per dollar, the yuan’s rise is the result of […]
BER-News: Bitcoin below $US10K mark (again)
Among the world’s ten most actively traded currencies, it was the Chinese yuan that was leading the pack approaching the end of the Asian business week. Last week: majors all down Aussie dollar (AUD) was down last week, retreating from US0.80 cents, on Australia’s disappointing rise in private sector wages, their massive contraction […]
Chinese Yuan Best of the Week and More Appreciation to Come, Predicts SEB
Among the world’s ten most actively traded currencies, it was the Chinese yuan that was leading the pack approaching the end of the Asian business week. As of 7:30pm in Singapore (GMT+8), the yuan’s marginal 0.2% appreciation for the week to 6.331 per US dollar was enough to seal top spot, with the dollar itself […]
Markets Upbeat Ahead of FOMC and Trump Decision; Korean Won Best in Asia-Pac
Ahead of major announcements in the coming days, investors were in surprisingly good spirits on Wednesday, indicated by a stronger New Zealand dollar, won, rupee and a faltering yen. Weakness in Asia-Pac FX would have been forgiven ahead of Thursday’s announcements by the FOMC (Wednesday in the US and Europe), Bank of England and Donald […]
Asia-Pac Currencies Make Waves Against Euro After ECB Extends Asset Purchases
Currencies in the Asia-Pacific region made sweeping gains against the euro on Thursday night after the European Central Bank announced a cautious approach to the removal of monetary stimulus. Further to a zero percent interest rate, the ECB is currently buying €60 billion worth of assets (bonds) each month, with the goal of keeping eurozone […]
Yen Unmoved by Exports and NZD Slumps Ahead of Decision on New Zealand’s Future Government
For Asia-Pac currencies, Thursday’s session was dominated by political nervousness in New Zealand and a busy economic calendar. In terms of data, Japan kicked things off a little before 9am in Tokyo with the country’s latest trade figures. Export growth of 14.1% in the year to September matched market expectations, more or less. Exports have […]
A Higher Australian Dollar Poses No Problems for Exporters, Says Treasurer
Australian Treasurer Scott Morrison expressed no discomfort with the current valuation of the Australian dollar this weekend. In an interview with Bloomberg TV, Morrison said that Australian exporters had adapted to a currency that was now 9.3% higher against the US dollar ($0.7873) and nearly 4% higher against the Chinese yuan (¥ 5.1954) than it […]
The Week Ahead for Asia FX
The week ahead should be an interesting one for Asian financial markets, with the highlights being China’s 19th National Congress, the latest numbers for Chinese economic growth, the Bank of Korea’s monetary policy meeting and Japanese trade data. Further to that, and to the events outlined below, investors should look with care to Federal Reserve […]
Asia-Pac Gains as Risk Appetite Returns
With the unsurprising exception of the Philippine peso – Asia’s worst performing currency of the year – Asia-Pac’s most actively traded currencies made gains against the US dollar on Tuesday. Although limited, gains were somewhat easy to come by as risk appetite returned after the President of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, held off on formally declaring […]
Australian Dollar Has Tough Day; Will Go Easy Ahead of US Payrolls Data
It’s been a tough twenty-four hours for the Australian dollar. The “Aussie” was hammered after Thursday’s woeful retail sales data, which showed that sales declined in August by 0.6% – the biggest fall in four years. To add insult to injury, previously released data for July was revised down to -0.2%, from 0.0%. AUD/USD has […]
Asia-Pac Takes a Hit as Fed Sticks to Guns on Rate Hike, Balance Sheet Normalization
Currencies in the Asia-Pacific region fell against the US dollar on Thursday morning after the Federal Reserve signaled that it would raise interest rates again this year and would begin shrinking its balance sheet in October. The Fed funds rate was left unchanged at its current range of 1–1.25%. Although the majority of economists had […]
Venezuela Ditches the Dollar, Begins Pricing Oil in Yuan
In retaliation to US sanctions, in its latest weekly report Venezuela’s oil ministry has published prices for the country’s petroleum products in Chinese yuan, rather than US dollars. One barrel of Venezuelan oil will now cost buyers CNY 306.26 – equivalent to USD 46.76. Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world, at 300 […]
So Much for Currency Manipulation, Yuan at 21-Month High Amid Dollar Bloodbath
So much for currency manipulation. The Chinese yuan surged against the US dollar on Thursday, forcing USD/CNY below 6.45 for the first time since December 2015. The dollar had fetched as many as 6.96 yuan in January. The yuan has started September extremely brightly, picking up where August left off. With only five trading days […]
Data Fails to Lift AsiaPac Currencies
A better than expected Chinese manufacturing PMI failed to lift the yuan or Australian dollar on Thursday morning against a US dollar determined to end the month in the green. The Chinese PMI for the manufacturing sector came in at 51.7 for August, slightly ahead of the market forecast of 51.3 and July’s reading of […]
Geopolitics Take Centre Stage, Gives Lift to Yen but US Dollar Remains on the Ropes
Investors fled to the safety of gold, government bonds and the Japanese yen on Tuesday as geopolitics took centre stage. After North Korea fired a missile over Japan, money flooded into gold, which rallied to a nine-month high of $1,325, and into yen, which strengthened to the low 108s against the dollar. Prices for Treasuries, […]
Korean Won Leads Asian Currencies Higher
Most Asian currencies ended Wednesday higher against the dollar, albeit on a rather unspectacular day of trading. With a few exceptions, markets traded quietly ahead of the Jackson Hole symposium (24-26 August) at which Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen and ECB President Mario Draghi might give important updates on monetary policy. The star of the day […]
Little Chance of Another US Rate Hike This Year as CPI Disappoints Again
The implied probability of a further hike in US interest rates this year declined on Friday to 35%, down from probabilities above 40% one day earlier. This fairly drastic adjustment in market expectations for US rates occurred following inflation data which, remarkably, came in below market expectations for the fifth consecutive month. The US dollar […]
Drama in Asia as the Yuan Spikes to 10-Month High Amid Speculation of a Wider Trading Band
Tuesday’s Asian session was stirred by a surprise surge in the Chinese yuan. Starting around 9:30am in Beijing, the yuan began rallying strongly against the dollar, with offshore rates declining (the yuan strengthening) to 6.7024 by 1pm, from rates earlier in the session around 6.73. Onshore yuan easily broke the 6.7 level and as of writing […]
Yuan and Yen Valuations Currently on Point, Says IMF
The IMF said on Friday that the current valuations of the Chinese yuan and Japanese yen are broadly consistent with fundamentals. In its latest External Sector Report – a yearly assessment of currency valuations as they relate to each country’s current account balance, external balance sheet, capital flows and reserves – the IMF said that […]
Surge in China’s Currency to 7-Month Highs Has Unknown Cause
China’s yuan was Asia’s best performing currency in May. Offshore yuan, which is traded in international financial centres like Hong Kong, Singapore and London, rose 2.3% against the US dollar during the month. And yesterday, the first trading day in June, the yuan rallied again, making further gains of 0.3% and forcing the dollar-to-yuan exchange […]
Moody’s Downgrades China Debt, Adds Another Weight onto Australian Dollar
The Australian dollar has fallen this morning following a downgrade of China’s debt rating by US ratings agency Moody’s. The giant Asian nation has been assigned a new rating of A1 (from Aa3) by the agency on the grounds that its “financial strength will erode somewhat over the coming years.” It is the first time […]
A Decline in New Zealand Dollar Likely as RBNZ Disappoint, Still Sees No Rate Hike Until 2019
The New Zealand dollar has fallen more than a cent against the US dollar following this morning’s RBNZ statement. As expected by the market, New Zealand’s official cash rate was kept at its record low of 1.75%, but the dovish tone of the RBNZ’s accompanying statements has surprised many. “Monetary policy will remain accommodative for […]
Scotiabank: Four Conditions for Asian Currency Appreciation in 2017
On Friday, Scotiabank – otherwise known as the Bank of Nova Scotia – outlined four factors that would drive Asian currencies higher in 2017. Investors would “pour funds” into Asian markets on the following grounds: 1) If the Bank of Japan and European Central Bank continue with their stimulus programs, providing “accommodative” levels […]
Malaysian Ringgit Outlook: Has It Turned a Corner?
The Malaysian ringgit has been one of Asia’s worst performing currencies for some time. Between May-2013 and September-2015 the exchange rate for MYR/USD declined from highs at 0.338 to 0.223 – a 34% fall in the currency’s value. Markets gave the ringgit some respite between October-15 and April-16, a period in which the ringgit clawed […]
Dollar Plays Catch Up, European Elections to Begin and Pleasant Surprises on China Data
The US dollar has started the week lower against most currencies as traders play catch up following market holidays on Friday. In Friday’s market update at BestExchangeRates.com, we described how March’s US core inflation fell month-on-month for the first time in seven years, but with many investors away for the Good Friday holiday, we also […]
Philippine Peso Starts Q2 with a Bang
In recent days, the Philippine peso has done what other Asian currencies were unable to, and that’s to make gains against the US dollar in an environment of heightened geopolitical risk – an environment normally associated with a sell-off in emerging market currencies. The peso gained again on Monday following up on its superb performance […]
Is an Australian Dollar Reversal on the Cards?
The Australian dollar has had a tough couple of weeks. Yesterday, against the U.S. dollar the Aussie finished the FX session down for the third consecutive day (its eighth daily fall in the past ten trading days). As of writing, AUD/USD is down again in Tuesday’s Asian session, trading at 0.7591, marking a 2% fall […]
Australia Week in China Trade Delegation
BestExchangeRates was selected as a delegate for the Australia Week in China (AWIC) trade delegation to China with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in April 2016. AWIC 2016 was the largest business mission ever organised by Austrade consisting of almost 1000 delegates from around 750 companies. AWIC 2016 focussed on forging business linkages, building the bilateral […]