ForexLive Asia-Pacific FX news wrap: AUD dipped after inflation data

• Federal Reserve Board Governor Christopher Waller speaks on Wednesday
• Chinese equities tumble as regulators announce new trade-in subsidies
• Bank of England speakers Wednesday are addressing Prudential Regulation and Policy
• PBOC official promises to aid banks in lending money for trade-in initiatives
• China’s State Planner to expand the scope to implement two new policies
• Czech National Bank governor is considering buyin Bitcoin for future reserve strategy
• Australian CPI data “raise the risk the RBA will begin its easing cycle earlier than May”
• Onshore yuan falls to its weakest since September 2023
• Former Bank of Japan Governor Kuroda predicts more rate hikes
• PBOC sets USD/ CNY mid-point today at 7.1887 (vs. estimate at 7.3435)
• AUD/USD towards 0.6220 after encouraging CPI data
• Australian November CPI 2.3% y/y (vs. expected 2.2%)
• Venezuelan President Maduro says two “very high-level” U.S. citizens have been arrested
• Shanghai Securities News sees chance of forceful PBOC monetary policy moves
• New Zealand data – ANZ World Commodity Price Index +0.2% in December (prior +2.9%)
• Canada – Alberta aims to double crude oil production, increase exports to the US
• ICYMI – Russia’s oil-product exports rose to a five-month high in December
• Johns Hopkins professor says a US Bitcoin reserve = “A stupid idea”
• Australian November monthly inflation is expected to jump from October
• Leverage USD Strength: UBS Recommends Diversifying into GBP and AUD
• Forexlive Americas FX news wrap 7 Jan;Stocks tumble with tech shares leading the way lower
• Oil – private survey of inventory shows a headline crude oil draw much great than expected
• Major US stock indices close lower on the day led by the NASDAQ index
• Trade ideas thread – Wednesday, 8 January, insightful charts, technical analysis, ideas

Chinese
equities were slammed lower again today. I’m not sure that is news
anymore? China’s State Planner, the National Development and Reform
Commission (NDRC) announced piecemeal stimulus, which failed to
ignite investor support. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance (MOFCOM)
railed against the latest U.S. restrictions on Chinese companies. As
I post the Shanghai Composite and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng are both
down around 1.5%.

On
shore yuan weakened, against the USD, to levels last seen in September
2023.

In
data from the region the focus was on Australian inflation figures for
November 2024. I posted here:

• Economic calendar in Asia Wednesday, January 8, 2025 – Australian inflation data

on
why the monthly CPI report is not viewed as nearly as important as
the quarterly data (we get this next on January 29). Nevertheless,
it’s a more timely update. While headline inflation came in a
little higher than expected the core measure, Trimmed Mean, was
notably lower than in October (3.2% vs. 3.5%), providing some
encouragement for those looking for a Reserve Bank of Australia
interest rate cut. AUD/USD and bond yields dipped after the data.
AUD/USD has since recovered. Australia’s benchmark equity index,
S&P/ASX 200, rose.

As
an aside, we also had job vacancy data out from Australia today,
which showed the first rise in vacancies since May 2022. Australia’s
labour market has been resilient. This is another sign of that.
It did get noticed today but seemed to be glossed over in the
excitement over the potential for an RBA rate cut. The RBA may well
eye jobs data as a reason to delay rate cuts a little longer. The
RBA next meet on February 17 and 18.

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