ForexLive Asia-Pacific FX news wrap: Small ranges only for major FX rates

• Two permanent FOMC voters speaking Tuesday – Kugler and Williams
• Bank of Japan Governor Ueda will be speaking soon – answering questions in parliament
• Mag 6.2 earthquake off the West Coast of South Island, New Zealand
• Reports that China has released five Mintz Group employees who were detained in 2023
• Samsung co-CEO Han Jong-hee dies of cardiac arrest.
• PBOC sets USD/ CNY reference rate for today at 7.1788 (vs. estimate at 7.2630)
• ECB Kazimir is speaking on Tuesday
• PBOC is changing how it issues its one-year medium-term lending facility (MLF) loans
• BoJ Minutes – Most members agreed the likelihood of hitting 2% target had been rising
• Russian and U.S. talks on Ukraine ceasefire – joint statement expected Tuesday
• BlackRock is favouring Japan and China investments
• ICYMI – Fed’s Bostic only expects one FOMC rate cut this year: inflation to target in 2027
• ECB’s Escriva says downside risks are more obvious than the upside risks
• Trump Media signs deal with Crypto.com to launch ETFs with U.S. focus
• Stand Chart says replacing TSLA in Mag 7 with Bitcoin, higher returns & lower volatility
• Reports that China is mulling ramping up multi billion services subsidies to boost economy
• Goldman Sachs: Lower oil prices to slow non-OPEC+ supply growth
• Fed may struggle to ‘look through’ tariff inflation: Morgan Stanley
• Piper Sandler on Tesla: Concerns over brand damage may be overstated
• US indices close sharply higher on tariff optimism
• Forexlive Americas FX news wrap: Better US services PMI helps to lift the dollar
• Trade ideas thread – Tuesday, 25 March, insightful charts, technical analysis, ideas

It
was a subdued day across major FX rates. The yen weakened a touch in
Asia morning trade, with USD/JPY approaching 150.95 and not troubling
the big figure just above. Since then USD/JPY has dribbled back to
around 150.60.

News
flow was very light. Russia
and the US are reportedly to issue a statement on a potential Ukraine
agreement on Tuesday.

From
the Bank of Japan we had January meeting minutes. The Bank raised
rates at this meeting. The Minutes contained little in the way of
clues about when we might expect the next rate hike. Members
certainly discussed more rate hikes, they see real rates as still
accommodative, but not the ‘when’. The current market consensus
seems to have settled on a hike every six months.

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