19 Feb 2015
Market Movers: USD mostly soft, AUD lower on Aussie rating cut speculation - TDS
FXStreet (Barcelona) - Prashant Newnaha, Asia-Pacific Macro Strategist at TD Securities, shares the market performance in the Asian trade, with the rumour of a probable downgrade in Aussie ratings being the only market moving event today.
Key Quotes
“It was very quiet session in Asia today with nearly the entire region out celebrating Chinese New Year. The relatively more dovish set of Fed minutes tabled from the Jan meeting saw ACGB yields drop 5bps and NZGBs drop 3bps.”
“The only real market moving item was a WSJ headline calling into question Australia’s AAA status as the already weak budget outlook is at risk of an external shock. While the quoted S&P analyst saw no risk of an imminent downgrade (30% of GDP seen as a potential trigger, currently 20%), it was enough to see bids for bonds drop off in thin trading conditions, ACGB yields backing up as much as 3bps at one time.”
“On the news Similarly, the AUD dropped 40 pips to as low as US$0.7785 and is currently near the figure, -0.10% today. The CAD is down by the same amount, while all other G10 peers are stronger vs the USD, led by the NZD +0.25% at US$0.7555.”
“There was not much action in equities, but the better trade data helped the NKY hit its highest levels since 2000, +0.35% while Australia –0.2% and India –0.35%.”
“Commodities are little changed to slightly weaker. Gold is up US$3 to US$1215, copper futures are 0.3% weaker and Brent crude is down US$1 to US$59.55.”
Key Quotes
“It was very quiet session in Asia today with nearly the entire region out celebrating Chinese New Year. The relatively more dovish set of Fed minutes tabled from the Jan meeting saw ACGB yields drop 5bps and NZGBs drop 3bps.”
“The only real market moving item was a WSJ headline calling into question Australia’s AAA status as the already weak budget outlook is at risk of an external shock. While the quoted S&P analyst saw no risk of an imminent downgrade (30% of GDP seen as a potential trigger, currently 20%), it was enough to see bids for bonds drop off in thin trading conditions, ACGB yields backing up as much as 3bps at one time.”
“On the news Similarly, the AUD dropped 40 pips to as low as US$0.7785 and is currently near the figure, -0.10% today. The CAD is down by the same amount, while all other G10 peers are stronger vs the USD, led by the NZD +0.25% at US$0.7555.”
“There was not much action in equities, but the better trade data helped the NKY hit its highest levels since 2000, +0.35% while Australia –0.2% and India –0.35%.”
“Commodities are little changed to slightly weaker. Gold is up US$3 to US$1215, copper futures are 0.3% weaker and Brent crude is down US$1 to US$59.55.”