Forex Today: Asian currencies slip amid risk-recovery, UK services PMI on tap

Risk-recovery was the main underlying sentiment in Asia this Thursday that sent the Asian equities rallying amid holiday-thinned light trading. The Chinese markets are closed in observance of Tomb Sweeping Day.

The demand for the safe-havens Yen and gold was hit by easing trade war concerns after the US offered to negotiate with China over the trade spat. Despite an improvement in the risk sentiment and better Australian trade figures, the Aussie slipped, as weaker gold and copper prices weighed down on the commodity currency. The Kiwi tracked the sell-off in its OZ counterpart and dropped below the 0.73 handle.

Main topics in Asia

US plans sanctions on Russian oligarchs - Reuters

The US is planning to sanction Russian oligarchs close to Vladimir Putin this week under a law targeting Moscow for meddling in the 2016 election campaign, as reported by Reuters.

Trump to send National Guard to border wall - Reuters

Reuters is out with reporting that US President Donald Trump, frustrated with lack of funding for his campaign-platform Mexico border wall, is sending the US National Guard to the US-Mexico border to beef up border security.

Australia's trade surplus narrowed less than expected in February

Australia's trade surplus in February narrowed to AUD 825 million from the downwardly revised January surplus of AUD 952 million (from UD1055 million), according to Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). 

Mexican Officials: US and Mexico agree to continue NAFTA dialogue

The Mexican officials are reported by Bloomberg as saying that the US and Mexico finally agreed to continue the dialogue on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

Ex-BoJ’s Hayakawa: BoJ is likely to raise its yield target within a year

Former Bank of Japan (BoJ) Chief Economist Hideo Hayakawa was on the wires earlier today, expressing his take on the BoJ’s monetary policy programme in an interview with Bloomberg.

Canada says progress on NAFTA, but ways to go yet - Reuters

According to reporting by Reuters, Canada's Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland stated that NAFTA renegotiations are making good progress, but there is still lots of work to do.

BoJ’s quarterly public opinion of Household Sentiment

The Bank of Japan (BoJ) is out with its quarterly public opinion of Household Sentiment, with the key highlights found below.

Key Focus ahead

With ebbing fears over a potential US-China trade war, the focus shifts back towards the fundamental drivers this Thursday, as markets gear up for another eventful European session. Ahead of the European open, the German factory orders data will be released, which is expected to show a turnaround in the Eurozone’s economic powerhouse. The Swiss CPI and a raft of the Euro area final services PMI readings will keep the EUR, GBP traders busy alongside the releases of the UK services PMI report. Also, of note remains the Eurozone PPI and retail sales data due to be reported at 0900 GMT.

Moving on, trade figures from both the US and Canada will remain the main highlight in the NA session today while the US jobless claims data will be also eyed heading into Friday’s US payrolls release. Besides, the speeches by the FOMC member Bostic and Swiss National Bank (SNB) board member Maechler will also grab some attention.

EUR/USD middling beneath 1.23 ahead of EU PMIs

Thursday's session has a bloated docket for EU data filled with Markit Service and Composite PMIs for the broad region, most notably German Markit Services/Composite PMIs due at 07:55 GMT, immediately followed by the general Eurozone Markit Service/Composite PMIs shortly after at 08:00 GMT. 

GBP/USD eyes UK services PMI for a big move

The GBP/USD pair dropped for three straight sessions in the run-up to the Easter holidays, but since then has been trading largely in a sideways manner in the range of 1.40 to 1.41.

Two scenarios for the US-China trade conflict

‘Phase two’ of the US-China trade conflict is now over and we are starting to enter more uncharted waters. Both ‘Phase one’, with tariffs on steel and aluminum, and ‘Phase two’, with the latest round of Donald Trump tariffs in defense of US technology – and China’s retaliation … 

US Jobs Preview: Wages to tick higher in March - Barclays

Analysts at Barclays released their preview of the March US labor market report due on the cards this Friday at 1230 GMT.