Halister News

(Bloomberg) -- Yen snaps five-day gain against dollar and leads declines in the region, followed by the won and ringgit.

• Yen retreats from 17-month high against dollar and weakens against all G-10 peers; Japan’s Finance Minister Aso says rapid currency movements are undesirable and recent moves have been one-sided, will take action as needed
  • Bank of America says Aso’s comments prompt unwinding of long positions versus the dollar ahead of weekend
  • Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga repeats comments from this week, saying currency markets are being watched with vigilance
  • Japan’s current account surplus widened to 2.43t yen ($22.4b) in February, most since March 2015; median estimate was for 2.03t yen
• Won declines; South Korea to closely monitor economy and financial markets and will respond if needed: Finance Ministry
  • Says slow recovery in global economy and volatility in international financial markets persist as external risks
• Rupiah declines; Bank Indonesia must be careful in considering monetary loosening: Governor Martowardojo; says central bank, Financial Services Authority and Finance Ministry have formed forum to coordinate policies on deepening financial markets
• China weakens yuan daily reference rate; central bank says it will from this month release foreign-exchange reserves denominated in SDR to help reduce valuation changes
  • Not seeing deterioration in local government credit metrics: S&P
  • China’s stocks head for longest losing streak since January
• Kiwi gains against dollar; central bank says it identified a notable decline in liquidity in New Zealand short-term currency swap markets; new regulation has caused some participants to withdraw from market
  • Nation’s budget balance is NZ$730m larger than forecast: Treasury
• Peso declines; Philippines is committed to a deficit target of 2% of GDP, Treasurer Tan said late yesterday; will explore pre-funding 2017 budget later in the year
  • Country asks World Bank to fund $871m worth of projects, BusinessMirror reports
• U.S. Treasuries drop, with yield on 10-year bonds up 2 bps to 1.713% in Asian trading after dropping 7 bps yesterday
  • Fed’s Yellen said low inflation is partly transitory, progress there is visible; U.S. economy is on solid course, not in bubble