ForexLive Asia-Pacific FX news wrap: USD/JPY drips a little lower

• Federal Reserve speakers on Thursday include Cleveland President Beth Hammack
• USD/JPY has (eventually) fallen following some verbal intervention from Japanese officials
• European Central Bank chief economist Philip Lane speaks again on Thursday
• Japan finance minister Kato says Rapid moves seen in recent FX market
• Japan official says watching for speculative FX moves
• Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey and MPC member Catherine Mann speaking Thursday
• PBOC sets USD/ CNY reference rate for today at 7.1286 (vs. estimate at 7.1284)
• Heightening chance China now faces the prospect of a Japanese-style lost economic decade
• Bank of Korea official says IT exports slowing, and many uncertainties over exports
• Japan flash PMIs (October): Manufacturing 49.0 (prior 49.7) Services 49.3 (prior 49.6)
• Chinese state media reports that Apple (AAPL) to increase investment in China
• Morgan Stanley not sounding downbeat for S&P 500 in 2025
• UK car output fell for the seventh consecutive month in September
• South Korean Q3 GDP comes in well under estimates: +0.1% q/q (vs. +0.5% expected)
• USD/JPY is quiet – too quiet?
• UBS maintains its view on the USD: “Unattractive”. Cite 3 reasons to sell rallies
• Australian flash October manufacturing PMI 46.6 (September was 46.7)
• 3 reasons the Bank of Canada cut by 50bp points (ditto for the RBNZ)
• Rabobank analysts see downside risks to Euro forecasts
• US stocks closed lower on the day but off their lows levels
• Forexlive Americas FX news wrap 23 Oct: Dollar moves higher but Beige Book tempers gains
• BRICS inventor says as a group BRICS has achieved very little over the past 15 years
• Trade ideas thread – Thursday, 24 October, insightful charts, technical analysis, ideas

Its
was a subdued sort of session for major FX rates, characterised by a
minor offer for the USD. AUD & NZD both added a few points, as
did EUR and GBP.

After
the USD/JPY surge in H1 of this week, topping above 153.00 on
Wednesday near a 3-month high, the pair drifted a little lower on the
session here.

We
had ineffectual intervention-type remarks from Japan’s Deputy Chief
Cabinet Secretary Kazuhiko Aoki. These were followed up a little
later by Finance
Minister Katsunobu Kato. Kato’s
efforts were a little more blunt, using language including
“one-sided, rapid” moves. This
language is an escalation of the usual rhetoric and is taken to mean
a bit more seriousness from authorities.

USD/JPY
barely responded, dribbling off a few tics before (eventually)
dropping a little more noticeably. Lows have been just under 152.40,
so far. Not much of a drop really.

News
and data flow otherwise was very slow. We had preliminary October
PMIs from Australia and Japan:

• Australia
  manufacturing PMI 0.1 lower than in September, Services up 0.1
• Japan’s
  manufacturing and non-manufacturing both dropped notably from September

This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at www.forexlive.com.