INSIDE ASIA: Kiwi Jumps After RBNZ; Dollar Snaps Six-Day Advance
(Bloomberg) -- New Zealand dollar leading gains among Asian currencies after RBNZ financial stability report, followed by Japanese yen and Korean won; Chinese yuan heads for first daily gain this week.
- Asian currencies in consolidation trading ahead of U.S. retail sales data Friday, with investors waiting for catalyst to buy more dollars, says Stephen Innes, senior trader at Oanda Asia Pacific
- Most players seen are short-term, retail intraday, rather than big clients; commodity-linked currencies recover slightly, though recent bounce in oil prices is temporary, coming from supply disruptions in Nigeria and wildfires in Canada
- Dollar Index falls first time in seven days, down 0.19%
- Goldman Sachs sees dollar advancing 15% over next two years as U.S. monetary policy normalizes
- Kiwi set to snap three days of losses; RBNZ report says will assess if further housing policy measures are needed, as prices rise again in Auckland; banking system capital and liquidity buffers are strong
- RBNZ likely to tighten Auckland investor loan-to-value ratio restrictions in coming mos., ASB writes in report today; notes price-to-income ratios are higher there than rest of NZ; still expects RBNZ to lower OCR in June and August, but risk remains that OCR cuts come at slower pace
- Yuan snaps two day of losses after PBOC raises yuan reference rate 0.04% to 6.5209; PBOC may have sold dollar in onshore FX market with intention of improving yuan sentiment: CBA
- China stocks in Hong Kong head for two-month low, with financial cos. worst hit
- South Korea April unemployment rate falls to 3.7% vs est. 3.8%
- Natixis says BOK to cut interest rates by 25 bps to 1.25%; 15 of 18 economists in Bloomberg survey expect rates to be held at 1.5%; BOK meets on Friday
- Yen gains for first time this week
- Yen rising to 100 per dollar could trigger intervention, Abe adviser Hamada says; dilemma with strong yen as U.S. may oppose intervention given presidential election; also TPP risk; doesn’t expect to strengthen much from 105-110
- Japan plans 778b yen ($7.2b) extra budget to aid recovery from earthquakes last month
- Goldman Sachs sees Japan as potential source for next international selloff in bonds, or “tantrum”
- Malaysia ringgit lower for third day
- Yield on 1MDB’s 5.99% 2022 notes up 3 bps to 5.853%; payment due noon London time/7pm HKT, according to OCBC
- Indonesia’s rupiah advances; President Widodo says wants govt to speed up spending in 2Q
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HALISTER1Source: BFW (Bloomberg First Word)
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