Asian
FX markets once again traded in limited ranges awaiting the outcome
of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting on Wednesday, 20
September 2023.
News
and data flow was very light.
On
the central bank front we had the People’s Bank of China once again
setting the USD/CNY reference rate over 1100 points away from the
modelled estimate. The Bank set the rate at 7.1733 vs. the estimate
at 7.2839. The Bank continues to enforce a stronger yuan.
We
also had the release of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s September
meeting minutes. The Bank appears set on trying to convey a hawkish
tilt to its deliberations, but it also said that the “recent flow
of data was consistent with inflation returning to target within a
reasonable timeframe while the cash rate remained at its present
level.” Which is strongly suggestive of no further rate hikes. As I
have mentioned previously the next critical data point is the
quarterly inflation data due from the Australian Bureau of Statistics
on October 25. Until we get that data point the November RBA meeting
is best though of as a ‘live’ meeting. We’ll be able to make a better
assessment after that inflation data.
Asian
equity markets:
-
Japan’s
Nikkei 225 -1.2%, a lot lower after Monday was a holiday for the markets in Japan -
China’s
Shanghai Composite -0.1% -
Hong
Kong’s Hang Seng +0.02% -
South
Korea’s KOSPI -0.3% -
Australia’s
S&P/ASX 200 -0.5%
USD/CNH update: