Currencies remained in tight ranges in the Asian session with little on the data calendar and no notable news events to drive direction.
Japanese officials have been out patting themselves on the back about the recent JPY decline: PM Noda bragged that the market had reacted 'favourably' to the latest BOJ easing. BOJ’s Shirakawa maintained his dovish stance by saying the nine-member board shares a strong resolve to continue 'powerful' easing until the 1 percent inflation target is in sight but countered that boosting money supply alone would not lead to inflation. USDJPY is holding above the 80 mark but showed little reaction to the comments.
The Kiwi found some support after New Zealand finance minister English commented that the NZ economy is in better shape than many other developed countries and is expected to grow strongly over the next 2 years. He noted that part of that growth will come from the on-going rebuilding efforts after the earthquake, which is expected to add some 1.25 percent to growth each year up to 2016. But he also acknowledged that headwinds to this upbeat outlook and the government’s future budget surplus targets could come from global risks and a Euro-zone meltdown.
We generally saw tight ranges in currency markets overnight though with some small packets of activity on the back of data and news. The EUR was range-bound and mildly affected by the release of European PMI numbers. Earlier optimism as the French PMI surprised to the upside was soon dispelled as Germany’s disappointed (barely holding to 50 contraction/expansion threshold) and the broader Euro-zone PMI stalled below 50 for the 7th straight month. GBP was affected to the downside by the minutes of the last Monetary Policy meeting which showed that 2 members (Posen and Miles) wanted to increase asset purchases by £75 bln rather than the £50 bln announced. USDJPY broke through the 80.0 mark for the first time since November last year while oil prices pushed higher on geo-political concerns in the Middle East.
There was little on the US data front to inspire activity with releases confined to existing home sales. These were better than forecast at 4.3 percent m/m though the previous month’s data was revised down dramatically – from +5.0 percent to -0.5 percent. Wall St eased back from current highs amid growing concerns that higher energy prices would impact any nascent economic rebound. The DJIA closed down 0.21 percent, S&P -0.33 percent and the Nasdaq -0.52 percent.
