Forex
Asia FX firms as dollar stalls amid rate cut bets, political uncertainty
Investing.com– Most Asian currencies drifted higher on Tuesday, while the dollar retreated as the greenback’s rebound was held back by continued expectations of interest rate cuts and uncertainty over the 2024 presidential election.
Still, sentiment towards Asia remained constrained by concerns over China, amid signs of a slowing economic recovery and uncertainty over how U.S. policies will treat the country in the coming months.
Japanese yen outperforms, USDJPY down to 156
The Japanese yen was the best performer for the day, continuing to strengthen against the dollar after suspected intervention by the government last week.
The pair fell 0.4% to 156.41 yen, coming close to a 1-½ month low.
A senior member of the Japanese government called for more clarity on interest rate hikes by the Bank of Japan, the reported on Tuesday. The comments come just a week ahead of a , where some analysts expect the bank to hike interest rates by 10 basis points. A recent increase in countrywide inflation supported this notion, although inflation still remained relatively sluggish.
Uncertainty over the BOJ has been a key weight on the yen in recent months, as the central bank provided few cues on when it will tighten policy further.
Dollar dips with presidential race, rate cuts in focus
The and both fell 0.1% each in Asian trade, stalling after a sharp rebound over the past two sessions.
The greenback turned volatile amid increased uncertainty over the U.S. presidential race, after President Joe Biden said he will not seek reelection, and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee.
Reports on Monday said Harris had won enough support from Democratic delegates to become the party’s presidential nominee, but will still need to be formally nominated.
Still, Republican nominee Donald Trump was seen polling ahead of Biden and Harris as of last week, CBS and HarrisX data showed.
Expectations of a Trump presidency had enabled some strength in the dollar, as analysts said he would be likely to enact protectionist trade policies.
But the dollar was nursing steep losses in recent weeks amid growing conviction the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in September. The central bank is set to at a meeting next week.
Broader Asian currencies drifted higher. The Singapore dollar’s pair fell 0.1%, while the South Korean won’s pair fell 0.3%. South Korean producer inflation picked up slightly in June, data showed.
The Indian rupee’s pair fell slightly but remained close to record highs hit earlier in July. Focus was on the Indian government’s , set to be unveiled later in the day.
Chinese yuan fragile amid economic uncertainty
The Chinese yuan moved little on Tuesday, seeing little relief after an unexpected interest rate cut by the People’s Bank of China.
The pair hovered around 7.2738 yuan, remaining close to levels last seen in November.
The currency was battered by increasing uncertainty over the Chinese economy, especially after recent data showed it grew less than expected in the second quarter.
Speculation over a Trump presidency also weighed on the yuan, given that Trump’s administration had sparked a trade war with Beijing in the late-2010s.
Concerns over China pressured some Asian currencies. The Australian dollar’s pair fell 0.1%, pressured by the country’s large trade exposure to China.
Forex
Dollar bounces after sharp loss; euro retreats on Lagarde comment
Investing.com – The US dollar edged higher Monday, rebounding after the sharp losses at the end of last week on signs of cooling inflationary pressures, while the euro slipped following dovish comments from ECB head Christine Lagarde.
At 05:00 ET (10:00 GMT), the Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six other currencies, traded 0.4% higher to 107.750, after falling sharply from a two-year high on Friday.
Dollar bounces after sharp retreat
The dollar bounced Monday after falling sharply on Friday as the Federal Reserve’s preferred showed moderate monthly rises in prices, with a measure of underlying inflation posting its smallest gain in six months.
That eased some concerns about how much the may cut in 2025, which had risen following the hawkish US rate outlook after the last Fed policy meeting of the year.
That said, traders are pricing in 38 basis points of rate cuts next year, shy of the two 25 bp rate cuts the Fed projected last week, with the market pushing the first easing of 2025 out to June, with a cut in March priced at around 53%.
Trading volumes are likely to thin out as the year-end approaches, with this trading week shortened by the festive period.
Eurozone “very close” to ECB inflation goal
In Europe, fell 0.1% to 1.0414, near a two-year low it touched in November, down 5.5% this year, after European Central Bank President said the eurozone was getting “very close” to reaching the central bank’s medium-term inflation goal.
“We’re getting very close to that stage when we can declare that we have sustainably brought inflation to our medium-term 2%,” Lagarde said in an interview published by the Financial Times on Monday.
Earlier in December, Lagarde had said the central bank would cut interest rates further if inflation continued to ease towards its 2% target, as curbing growth was no longer necessary.
The lowered its key rate last week for the fourth time this year, and is likely to cut interest rates further in 2025 if inflation worries fade.
traded largely flat at 1.2571, after data showed that Britain’s economy failed to grow in the third quarter, adding to the signs of an economic slowdown.
The Office for National Statistics lowered its estimate for the change in output to 0.0% in the July-to-September period from a previous estimate of 0.1% growth.
The ONS also cut its estimate for growth in the second quarter to 0.4% from a previous 0.5%.
policymakers voted 6-3 to keep interest rates on hold last week, a bigger split than expected, amid worries over a slowing economy.
Yuan hits one-year high
In Asia, rose 0.2% to 156.72, after rising as far as 158 last week following dovish signals from the .
The BOJ signaled that it was not considering interest rate hikes in the near-term despite a recent pick-up in inflation, and could raise rates by as late as March 2025.
edged 0.2% higher to 7.3080, hitting a one-year high as traders continued to fret over China’s economic outlook. While Beijing is expected to ramp up fiscal spending in the coming year to support the economy, looser monetary conditions are expected to undermine the yuan.
Forex
Asia FX muted, dollar slips from 2-yr high on soft inflation data
Investing.com– Most Asian currencies moved little on Monday, while the dollar steadied from a tumble from over two-year highs after soft U.S. inflation data spurred some hopes that interest rates will still fall in 2025.
Asian currencies were nursing steep losses against the dollar from last week, although they trimmed some declines on Friday after the soft inflation data. The outlook for regional markets also remains clouded by uncertainty over U.S. interest rates and policy under incoming President Donald Trump.
Dollar slips from 2-yr high as PCE data misses expectations
The and both steadied on Monday after clocking sharp losses on Friday.
The greenback slid from an over two-year peak after data- the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge- read softer-than-expected on Friday.
Still, the reading remained above the Fed’s 2% annual target, keeping uncertainty over interest rates in play.
The Fed had cut interest rates by 25 basis points last week, but flagged a slower pace of interest rate cuts in the coming year, citing concerns over sticky inflation and resilience in the labor market.
The Fed is expected to cut rates twice in 2025, although the path of rates still remains uncertain.
Markets took some relief from the government avoiding a shutdown after lawmakers approved an eleventh-hour spending bill.
Asia FX pressured by rate uncertainty
Despite clocking some gains on Friday, most Asian currencies were still trading lower for December, as the outlook for interest rates remained uncertain.
The Japanese yen’s pair rose 0.1% to around 156.59 yen, after rising as far as 158 yen last week following dovish signals from the Bank of Japan.
The BOJ signaled that it was not considering interest rate hikes in the near-term despite a recent pick-up in inflation, and could raise rates by as late as March 2025.
The Chinese yuan’s pair rose 0.1%, hitting a one-year high as traders continued to fret over China’s economic outlook. While Beijing is expected to ramp up fiscal spending in the coming year to support the economy, looser monetary conditions are expected to undermine the yuan.
The Singapore dollar’s pair was flat ahead of inflation data due later in the day, while the South Korea’s won’s pair rose 0.3%.
The Australian dollar’s pair rose slightly after sinking to a two-year low last week.
The Indian rupee’s pair steadied after hitting a record high of over 85 rupees last week.
Forex
Dollar to weaken less than expected next year: UBS
Investing.com — The dollar recently notched fresh year-to-date highs against its rivals and is likely to remain strong after the Federal Reserve leaned more hawkish at its recent December meeting, analysts from UBS said in a recent note.
“While we still expect the dollar to fall, we now see less weakness in 2025 given these factors and adjust our forecasts slightly,” analysts from UBS said in a recent note.
The less bearish view on the USD comes in the wake of the greenback making fresh year-to-date highs in key exchange rates and the expectations for fewer U.S. rate cuts.
“The USD has been driven lately by prospects of fewer Fed rate cuts and tariff risks,” the analysts said.
The euro has been particularly affected by dollar strength, but is expected to trade around $1.05 against the greenback in the first half of 2025, the analysts forecast.
But a significant drop toward parity for the can’t be ruled out, “due to real tariff threats or further divergence in the macro backdrop between the US and Europe,” the analysts added.
Still, any move toward parity should be short-lived, the analysts said, amid expectations for the economic backdrop in Europe to improve in the second half of the year, narrowing the divergence between Europe and U.S. yields.
“The trajectory back into the middle of the trading range or higher, 1.08 to 1.10, comes with the view that two-year yield differentials will still narrow to some degree and better macro data out of Europe provide some underlying support for EURUSD in 2H25,” the analysts said.
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