Global Markets:
- Asian stock markets: Nikkei down 2.15 %, Shanghai Composite gained 1.00 %, Hang Seng fell 1.40 %, ASX 200 lost 1.30 %
- Commodities: Gold at $1226 (+0.60 %), Silver at $15.13 (+1.20 %), WTI Oil at $35.50 (-0.40 %), Brent Oil at $37.60 (-0.20 %)
- Rates: US 10 year yield at 1.75, UK 10 year yield at 1.43, German 10 year yield at 0.13
News & Data:
- Japan Nikkei Services PMI Mar: 50.0 (prev 51.2)
- Japan Nikkei Composite PMI Mar: 49.9 (prev 51.0)
- Japan Labour Cash Earnings (YoY) Feb: 0.9% (est 0.2%, prev 0.0%)
- Japan Real Cash Earnings (YoY) Feb: 0.4% (prev 0.0%)
- Australian AiG Performance of Services Index (Mar): 49.5 (prev 51.8)
- Australian Roy Morgan Weekly Consumer Confidence (Apr 3): 113.4 (prev 114.5)
- New Zealand ANZ Commodity Price (MoM) Mar: -1.3% (prev 0.4%, rev 0.5%)
- PBoC fixes CNY reference rate at 6.4663 (prev close 6.4876)
- BoJ’s Kuroda: QQE having intended impact, economy and prices have improved sharply – RTRS
- BoJ's Kuroda: Japan is only half way towards achieving 2% inflation – RTRS
- BoJ’s Kuroda: Possible to cut rates further into negative territory if needed – BBG
- BoJ’s Kuroda: Not targeting FX
- BoJ’s Sakurai: Has been some progress at beating deflation over the past 3 years – BBG
- BoJ’s Sakurai: Don’t think negative interest rates was wrong move – RTRS
- S&P’s Tan: Slow Chinese rebalancing could hurt Australia more than Asia – BBG
Markets Update:
The Australian Dollar fell against most other major currencies ahead of the RBA meeting. While traders expect the central bank to keep rates unchanged, some expect that the bank will have an increasingly dovish outlook. AUD/USD fell from 0.7610 to 0.7570 in Asia and dragged the NZD/USD lower as well, which declined from 0.6835 to 0.6790.
The Japanese Yen was bid overnight as the Nikkei is down more than 2 % on the day. USD/JPY fell to a low of 110.80, just 15 pips from the major support level. To the topside, resistance is now seen at 111.40 and 111.80.
EUR/USD was quiet as usual – trading in a 1.1385-1.1405 range. GBP/USD weakened slightly in Asia, as it fell from 1.4280 to 1.4256.
Upcoming Events:
- 08:30 BST – German Central Bank President Weidmann speaks
- 08:45 BST – Italian Services PMI
- 08:50 BST – French Services PMI
- 08:55 BST – German Services PMI
- 09:00 BST – Euro Zone Services PMI
- 09:30 BST – UK Services PMI
- 10:00 BST – Euro Zone Retail Sales
- 13:30 BST – US Trade Balance
- 13:30 BST – Canadian Trade Balance
- 14:45 BST – US Services PMI
- 15:00 BST – US ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI
- 15:00 BST – US JOLTs Job Openings
- 21:35 BST – US API Weekly Crude Oil Stock
