Halister News

(Bloomberg) -- Malaysia’s ringgit and Indonesia’s rupiah lead most Asian currencies higher, tracking regional equities; sovereign bonds fall in Australia while interest-rate swaps advance in South Korea.

• Aussie weakens against dollar; Australia’s employment slipped 7,900 in January from a month earlier, missing the median estimate for a 13,000 increase; jobless rate came in at 6%, above the 5.8% expectation
• Yuan strengthens; China’s consumer prices gained 1.8% in January from prior year, less than the 1.9% median estimate
  • Producer prices dropped 5.3%, beating the 5.4% expectation
  • Economic Information Daily reports that a state researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences sees 6.7% growth in 2016
  • China Securities Journal reports infrastructure investment may rise more than 15% this year, citing a CICC forecast
• Japan’s 10-year bonds rise; nation’s exports fell 12.9% in January from year earlier, more than the 10.9% median estimate and the biggest since 2009
  • Imports decreased 18%, leaving trade deficit of 645.9b yen
  • Nikkei reports Prime Minister Abe will avoid further stimulus measures for now
  • Japanese investors were net sellers of 1.3t yen in overseas bonds and notes during week ended Feb. 12, most since June, according to figures released by the Ministry of Finance
• Kiwi advances; New Zealand producer output prices declined 0.8% on milk and fuel in fourth quarter from prior three months, when they increased 1.3%
• U.S. Treasuries rise, with yield on 10-year sliding 1 bp to 1.809% in Asian trading; Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President Bullard says recent market turmoil gives central bank scope to delay interest-rate increases
• Ringgit surges, set to snap two-day loss; Malaysia’s economic growth may have slowed to 4.1% in fourth quarter, a survey suggests
  • 2015 GDP growth seen at 4.9%, based on separate poll; both data points are due today
• Rupiah advances for the first time in three days; Bank Indonesia may trim reference rate by 25 bps today to 7.00%, according to 17 of 28 economists surveyed by Bloomberg

CURRENCY TECHNICALS:

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