Halister News

(Bloomberg) -- South Korea’s won and Malaysia’s ringgit are among the biggest Asian emerging currencies losers on possible profit-taking ahead of the weekend after overnight U.S. data revived speculation of Fed rate increases.

• Asian currencies are lower today after USD initial claims dropped to lowest since 1973 and amid general profit-taking on Friday, Michael Every, head of financial markets research Asia Pacific at Rabobank, says in interview
  • Marginal shift in market view back towards possibility of Fed hikes
• Futures pricing 63% chance Fed will lift rates by yr-end vs 50% end of last week; data on Thursday showed U.S. initial jobless claims at 247k vs median est. 265k
• Japan’s 40-year yield falls to record low
  • BOJ survey shows 19 of 41 analysts predict central bank will increase ETF purchases next week; 8 expect boost in bond buying and 8 project BOJ to cut its negative rate
  • CBA recommends buy USD/JPY call for tactical short-term boost
• Aussie gains versus dollar, set to snap two-day loss
  • SocGen recommends buying AUD/NZD on monetary-policy divergence
  • Selling seen in Aussie 10-year futures partly due to flow from yday’s $900m 10-year bond tender for Sydney Airport Finance Co., according to Asia-based rates trader
  • Australia’s sovereign wealth fund increased amount of cash it holds to almost one quarter of its A$117.4b portfolio as it says global central banks have less firepower to respond to economic weakness
• China lowers fixing for second day
  • Goldman Sachs’s preferred measure sees nation’s FX outflows at $34b, similar to Feb. and still meaningful, though moderated significantly from Jan., according to note dated April 21
  • Nation to see return of tight liquidity, may spur RRR cuts, according to CIFM Asset Management Hong Kong
  • Chinese stocks poised for biggest weekly decline in almost 3 months on concern improving economic data will prevent further stimulus and corporate defaults will rise
• Monetary Authority of Singapore says it is investigating brokers for possible breach
• Won snaps 3-day rally, set for biggest decline since April 14
  • Bank of Korea Governor Lee says some positive signals are seen in economy, financial market instability eased from March
• Treasuries steady, with yield on 10-year bonds at 1.861%; data today may show U.S. manufacturing PMI rose to 52 in April from 51.5 prior month: Bloomberg survey
• Taiwan March unemployment rate was 3.92% vs est. 3.94%
  • March industrial production est. -5.50% y/y vs -3.65% prior month; data due today