Turkey finally raises rates – Lira jumps 11 percent
On Thursday Turkey’s central bank finally caved into financial markets and jacked up interest rates by a hefty 4.75 per cent raising the benchmark rate to 15 per cent promising to remain tough on inflation.
Fintech Money Transfers Up 2,500 percent in South Korea Last Year
The number of international money transfers handled by fintech providers in South Korea has grown 2,500 percent in little over a year, the country’s financial regulator has said.
Dollar Doldrums: USD Suffers Worst Day in 10-Months Despite Pick-Up in Core Inflation
The U.S. Dollar Index (DXY) suffered its worst one-day decline in ten months on Friday in spite of an unexpected acceleration in the rate of core inflation and what appeared to be an upward revision to U.S. interest rate expectations. After the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that U.S. consumer prices, excluding food and energy, […]
CAD Steals Headlines from Dollar on Dramatic Employment Boost; Asia-Pac Currencies Make Sweeping Gains
The U.S. dollar was upstaged by its Canadian counterpart on Friday following the release of some spectacular Canadian employment data. Statistics Canada said on Friday that the nation’s unemployment rate fell in December to just 5.7% – the lowest rate in forty years – and that Canadian businesses added 78,600 new jobs. Ahead of the […]
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 […]
Korean Won at 7-Week High, Canadian Dollar Suffers and ECB to Announce Plans for QE
The South Korean won climbed to a seven-week high against the dollar on Wednesday (a USD/KRW low) of 1123.3 after third-quarter GDP data showed South Korea’s economy growing at its fastest pace in seven years. Third-quarter growth of 1.4% was well above the median estimate of 1.0% and an improvement on second-quarter expansion of 0.6%. […]
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 […]
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 […]
Asian Currencies Have Muted Start to Golden Week
Currencies in Asia have begun the week slowly and also with contrasting performances against the FX majors. Against the dollar, while all of Asia’s ten most active currencies have fallen marginally on Monday morning, many hold slight gains or remain unchanged against the euro. Little movement has been seen against the yen. A mixed bag […]
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 […]
Asian Currencies Plunge Against CAD After Bank of Canada’s Surprise Rate Hike
To the surprise of many, the Bank of Canada raised interest rates on Wednesday to 1.0%, from 0.75%, which sent currencies in the Asia-Pacific region tumbling against the Canadian dollar. The Bank of Canada had been expected to raise the cost of borrowing again this year, following a quarter-point hike in July, but most analysts […]
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 […]
AUD/NZD Breaches 1.1, Bank of Korea to Meet and US Dollar Shows Its Metal in Recovery
On Wednesday morning, the Australian dollar-to-New Zealand dollar exchange rate came within three pips of making a sixteen-month high after it finally breached 1.1 – the major technical resistance level in this rate. A rally slightly above 1.1 on March 16th (to 1.1019) was quickly rejected and preceded a three-month decline in AUD/NZD to levels […]
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 […]
Korean Won to Struggle in Any Case, Says Nomura
For a portion of 2017, the South Korean won had been Asia’s best performing currency. Over the past month, it has, however, deviated from what has been a stable path for Asian currencies generally. Between July 27th and Friday’s close, the Japanese yen, Chinese yuan and Thai baht rose against the dollar by 1.8%, 1.2% […]
Korean Won Holds Yellen-Inspired Gains After Interest Rate Decision
The Korean won gained nearly 1% against the US dollar yesterday and by doing so recorded its best day since April. USD/KRW ended the New York session at 1137.4. The move took the won’s 2017 gain against the dollar to 6%. Against the euro, the won gained 1.4% – its best day since November – […]
EM Asia Currencies Fall Following Moderately Hawkish Fed Speak
A rally in the US dollar prompted by moderately hawkish Fed speakers pushed emerging market Asian currencies such as the Thai baht, Philippine peso and Malaysian ringgit lower on Tuesday. Asian currencies from developed economies but which nonetheless remain second tier and under the “emerging” umbrella, such as the Korean won and the Taiwan dollar, […]
Make the Most of Japan’s Spring Time Charm: Yen Great Value Against Korean Won, Taiwan Dollar, Pound and Euro
In the four-weeks leading up to last Friday’s close (May 12th), the Japanese yen had been one of the world’s worst performing currencies against the US dollar, falling 4.3% within that time. The yen’s weakness during that period marks one hell of a turnaround from the four-weeks immediately prior, in which the yen was one […]
Korean Won Makes Its Move, Malaysia in Focus and Hong Kong Dollar Still Falling
The Korean won finally made its move yesterday away from the 1130-to-1140 range against the US dollar. The exchange rate for USD/KRW had been trapped between the two prices for much of the previous ten trading days. At the end of yesterday’s New York session – the traditional end of the FX trading day – […]
Korean Won Stable Following Moon Jae-in Victory
Moon Jae-in has today been declared the next president of South Korea. The Democratic Party of Korea candidate won 41.1% of the vote according to the country’s National Election Commission. All of the votes have now been counted. Moon saw off Hong Jun-pyo and Ahn Cheol-soo – the Liberty Party and People’s Party candidates – […]