Forex
Asia FX muted with nonfarm payrolls in sight; Yen scales 4-mth peak
© Reuters.
Investing.com – Most Asian currencies moved little on Friday as traders positioned for a potentially softer U.S. nonfarm payrolls reading, while the yen sat near a four-month high to the dollar tracking hawkish signals from the Bank of Japan.
The was the best-performing Asian currency this week, up over 2% after BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda signaled that the central bank was considering an eventual move away from negative interest rates.
The yen rose 0.2% to 143.88 against the dollar on Friday.
Ueda’s comments, made during an address on Thursday, sparked a sharp reversal in bets for more weakness in the yen, while reinforcing expectations that the BOJ will end its negative rate regime in 2024.
This helped the yen strengthen past data showing that Japan’s in the third quarter. Ueda also noted that policy will remain loose in the near-term to keep supporting the Japanese economy.
Dollar weakens as markets bet on softer nonfarm payrolls
Broader Asian currencies were muted, while the dollar reversed a recent rebound following a string of soft labor market readings this week.
The and steadied in the mid-103s in Asian trade, after falling sharply on Thursday.
and readings suggested that the U.S. labor market was cooling, potentially setting the scene for a softer reading for November, which is due later in the day.
Any signs of a cooling labor market give the Federal Reserve less impetus to keep interest rates higher for longer. Friday’s reading also comes just days before the for the year, where the central bank is expected to keep rates on hold.
But markets were still seeking more cues on when the Fed could begin cutting rates in 2024. Expectations that had boosted Asian currencies in recent sessions.
Most regional units moved little in anticipation of the payrolls reading. The fell 0.1%, and was set for mild weekly losses amid persistent concerns over an economic slowdown in China. Dollar selling by Chinese state banks helped limit losses in the yuan this week.
The was flat after the kept rates on hold as widely expected, and said that monetary policy will remain restrictive to curb persistent risks from inflation.
The rose 0.2%, but was set to lose 0.8% this week following a string of weak economic readings. A slowdown in China, Australia’s biggest export market, appeared to be spilling over into the country.
Investing.com – The US dollar has had a difficult summer, dropping substantially during the month of August, but JPMorgan thinks those predicting the demise of the U.S. currency are getting ahead of themselves.
At 06:00 ET (10:00 GMT), the Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six other currencies, traded 0.2% lower to 101.127, having lost 1.6% over the course of the last month.
“Diversification away from the dollar is a growing trend,” said analysts at JPMorgan, in a note dated Sept. 4, “but we find that the factors that support dollar dominance remain well-entrenched and structural in nature.”
The dollar’s role in global finance and its economic and financial stability implications are supported by deep and liquid capital markets, rule of law and predictable legal systems, commitment to a free-floating regime, and smooth functioning of the financial system for USD liquidity and institutional transparency, the bank added.
Additionally, the genuine confidence of the private sector in the dollar as a store of value seems uncontested, and the dollar remains the most widely used currency across a variety of metrics.
That said, “we are witnessing greater diversification and important shifts in cross-border transactions as a result of sanctions against Russia, China’s efforts to bolster usage of the RMB, and geoeconomic fragmentation,” JPMorgan said.
The more important and underappreciated risk, the bank added, is the increased focus on payments autonomy and the desire to develop alternative financial systems and payments mechanisms that do not rely on the US dollar.
“De-dollarization risks appear exaggerated, but cross-border flows are dramatically transforming within trading blocs and commodity markets, along with a rise in alternative financial architecture for global payments,” JPMorgan said.
By Nimesh Vora
MUMBAI (Reuters) – The Indian rupee ended at its record closing low on Thursday, but was little changed versus the previous session, as the central bank’s intervention helped negate the incessant dollar demand from importers.
The rupee ended at 83.9825 to the U.S. dollar compared to 83.9650 in the previous session. Intraday volatility was muted, similar to the activity in recent sessions, with the local currency trading in a 2 paisa range.
The Reserve Bank of India yet again sold dollars to support the rupee, which prevented it from slipping past the crucial 84 level.
“The RBI was at it through most of today’s session. There is obviously just no way of knowing when the RBI will decide that it has had enough of defending 84,” a currency trader at a bank said.
The rupee needed the central bank’s help even on a day when the dollar was weak across the board.
Weak U.S. job opening data pushed the odds of a 50-basis-point Federal Reserve rate cut this month higher to 45%, prompting traders to dump the dollar.
“The rupee today completely disregarded the dollar’s decline, like it has been doing for a number of weeks now,” Kunal Kurani, associate vice president at Mecklai Financial said.
“Now let’s see whether Friday’s (U.S.) job report will change things.”
August’s U.S. non-farm payrolls data is being considered the most important jobs report in a long time in the wake of comments by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell that further weakening in the labour market will not be welcome.
Friday’s report will decide whether the Fed will cut rates by 25 bps or 50 bps at the Sept 17-18 meeting. Right now, the futures market indicates that it is a toss-up.
By Elena Fabrichnaya
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Major Russian banks have called on the central bank to take action to counter a yuan liquidity deficit, which has led to the rouble tumbling to its lowest level since April against the Chinese currency and driven yuan swap rates into triple digits.
The rouble fell by almost 5% against the yuan on Sept. 4 on the Moscow Stock Exchange (MOEX) after the finance ministry’s plans for forex interventions implied that the central bank’s daily yuan sales would plunge in the coming month to the equivalent of $200 million.
The central bank had been selling $7.3 billion worth of yuan per day during the past month. The plunge coincided with oil giant Rosneft’s 15 billion yuan bond placement, which also sapped liquidity from the market.
“We cannot lend in yuan because we have nothing to cover our foreign currency positions with,” said Sberbank CEO German Gref, stressing that the central bank needed to participate more actively in the market.
The yuan has become the most traded foreign currency on MOEX after Western sanctions halted exchange trade in dollars and euros, with many banks developing yuan-denominated products for their clients.
Yuan liquidity is mainly provided by the central bank through daily sales and one-day yuan swaps, as well as through currency sales by exporting companies.
Chinese banks in Russia, meanwhile, are avoiding currency trading for fear of secondary Western sanctions.
At the start of September, banks raised a record 35 billion yuan from the central bank through its one-day swaps.
“I think the central bank can do something. They hopefully understand the need to increase the liquidity offer through swaps,” said Andrei Kostin, CEO of second-largest lender VTB, stressing that exporters should sell more yuan as well.
The acute yuan shortage also follows months of delays in payments for trade with Russia by Chinese banks, which have grown wary of dealing with Russia after U.S. threats of secondary Western sanctions. These problems culminated in August in billions of yuan being stuck in limbo.
Russia and China have been discussing a joint system for bilateral payments, but no breakthrough is in sight. VTB’s Kostin said that since Russia’s trade with China was balanced, establishing a clearing mechanism for payments in national currencies should not be a problem.
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