- China central banker calls for more reforms now, warn of cost of delay.
- China Central Banker Says Yuan Depreciation is Not Sustainable.
- Japan Fin Min Aso- Not Considering Compiling Extra Budget at Present.
- Japan Fin Min Aso- Japan's Economy is Most Stable among Major Economies.
- Japan Fin Min Aso- Now it's Companies' Turn to Spend, want them to Boost Wages, Capex Instead Of Internal Reserves.
- FinMin Aso- Ex Energy, Expect Consumer Prices to Follow a Moderate Rise Ahead.
- Japan Econ Min Amari- Ex Energy Prices, Pace of Price Gains is picking up.
- Econ Min Amari- Expect BOJ to Make Appropriate Decision on Monetary Policy.
- Japan Econ Min Amari- Not in Position to Make Requests Regarding Mon Policy.
- Japan Amari- No Reason to be Pessimistic about Economy, Recovery Trend is intact.
- Japan's Amari- Do Not See Any Need for New Stimulus Spending Now.
- Japan's Amari- No Change to Goal of Achieving 2% Inflation.
- Japan August core CPI falls 0.1% yr/yr.
- PBOC Sets Yuan Mid-Point at 6.3785 / Dlr Vs Last Close 6.3828.
- Brazil's Fin Min Levy- Fiscal Consolidation is needed for Economy to Grow.
- Brazil's Levy Says Gov't Reducing Spending by more than 80bln Reais this Year.
- Brazil's Levy Says Gov't Needs to Review how it spends Public Resources.
- Brazil's Levy Says Cannot Have Fiscal Ambiguity and Work to Lower Inflation.
- Fed Chair Yellen Receiving Medical Attention after Speech.
- Yellen Receive Medical Attention after Speech; struggled to Finish Last Lines.
- Brazil Central Bank to Sell up to $1bln Spot with Repurchase Agreement for Jan 4, 2016.
- Brazil's Central Bank Says to hold Dollar Repo Auction on Friday.
- Yellen - Fed still on track for U.S. rate hike this year.
- (0400 ET/0800 GMT) Euro zone Money-M3 Annual Growth.
- (0400 ET/0800 GMT) Euro zone Money-Private Loans.
- (0400 ET/0800 GMT) Italy wage Inflation.
Key Events Ahead
- (0700 ET/1100 GMT) ITALY 2YZ B 0.000%,30/08/17 EUR1.5-2.0.
- (0700 ET/1100 GMT) ITALY 6YEI B 2.100%, 15/09/21 EUR0.5-1.0.
FX Recap
EURUSD: The euro fell sharply against the US dollar on Friday morning in Asia after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said the first US rate hike was still likely to happen this year. Yellen said on Thursday during a speech at the University of Massachusetts, in Amherst, that "my colleagues and I anticipate that it will likely be appropriate to raise the target range for the federal funds rate sometime later this year and to continue boosting short-term rates at a gradual pace thereafter as the labour market improves further and inflation moves back to our 2% objective." Meanwhile, markets now await German Bundesbank President Weidmann's speech ahead of the crucial Q2 GDP data from the US due later tonight. It made intraday high at 1.1233 and low at 1.1159. Initial support is seen around at 1.1015 and resistance at 1.1560 levels.
USDJPY: Japan's core inflation gauge slipped into negative territory for the first time since April 2013 last month, putting the Bank of Japan back at square one with inflation and placing greater pressure on the bank to act soon. The national core CPI fell 0.1% year-on-year in August after showing no change in July, according to data published by the Statistics Bureau on Friday. Japan's core CPI measure which excludes both fresh fruit and energy prices was up 0.8% year-on-year in August, coming in stronger than the forecast of a 0.7% increase, while Tokyo's CPI measure - released one month ahead of the other measures - fell 0.2% year-on-year in September, as expected. Pair made intraday high at 120.38 and low at 119.99 levels. Initial resistance is seen at 123.20 and support is seen at 118.42 levels.
GBPUSD: After bottoming out in the 1.5200 neighbourhood on Wednesday, spot has staged a sort of comeback and is now supported above 1.5200 levels, amidst empty docket or scheduled events in the UK economy. Heading into the US session, traders will be looking to US Q2 GDP data for the further USD moves. Pair made intraday high at 1.5242 and low at 1.5205 levels. Initial support is seen at 1.5185 and resistance is seen around 1.5725 levels.
NZDUSD: The New Zealand dollar was one of the worst performing majors on Friday morning in Asia, after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen indicated that the first US rate hike was still likely to occur in 2015. The NZD/USD pair fell 0.40% to $0.6326 on Friday afternoon in Wellington, from $0.6353 at the close of trade in New York on Thursday, when the cross was up some 1.3% for the day. It made intraday high at 0.6339 and low at 0.6295 levels. Market now awaits US macroeconomic data for the further direction. Initial support is seen at 0.6195 and resistance at 0.6511 levels.
AUDUSD: The Australian dollar slides victim to a stronger greenback on Friday morning in Sydney, following some fairly hawkish comments from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen. The AUD/USD pair fell more than 50 pips to $0.6978 on Friday morning in Sydney, from $0.7021 ahead of Yellen's speech, before regaining a little strength to trade at $0.6985. It made intraday high at 0.7022 and low at 0.6978 levels. Looking ahead for the day, markets focus on US GDP data due later today. Initial support is seen at 0.6908 and resistance at 0.7245 levels.
Equity Recap
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 0.78% to 17,708.03 points within the first hour of trade, while Tokyo's broader Topix gauge jumped 0.80% to 1,438.33 points.
Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng index was down 0.14% at 21,067.95 points when the opening bell rang, and mainland China's benchmark Shanghai Composite fell 0.51% to 3,126.79 points at the same time.
Korea's benchmark Kospi index slid 0.17% to 1,944.58 points this morning in Seoul.
The benchmark Australian S&P/ASX 200 index was little changed at 5,072.80 points in Sydney, with retailers and resource stocks pushing higher in the early hours of trade, but a more mixed performance among lenders.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index rose 0.25% to 5,690.99 points this afternoon in Wellington.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index closes down 0.30 pct at 5,056.20 points.
Tokyo's average closes up 1.76 pct at 17,880.51.
Treasury Recap
BOJ offers to lend Y569.6 bln of JGBs on spot basis through 9/28 as a secondary source of JGBs.
Malaysia sells 2.0 bln rgt government bonds.
Thailand 20.8 bln baht, 14-day central bank bond average accepted yield 1.49804 pct.
New Zealand government bonds dipped, sending yields four basis points higher along the curve.
Australian government bond futures also retreated, with the three-year bond contract off 5 ticks at 98.120. The 10-year contract was down 3.5 ticks to 97.2750.
Commodity Recap
The precious metal ended a series of gains in the past few sessions as Federal Reserve (Fed) Chair Janet Yellen pledged to increase the central bank's borrowing costs by the end of the year, giving a boost to the US dollar. Gold prices dropped 0.63% on Friday to trade at $1,146.50 per ounce, after rising above the $1,155 mark in the previous session when it hit the highest level since August 24.
Oil prices have been alternating between brief gains and losses on Thursday, following back-to-back drops of the US crude benchmark. A reduction in US reserves along with a weaker greenback supported prices at the same time as a general risk-off tone in the markets embodied by falling equities exerted a gravitational pull. Futures for West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose 0.58% to $44.74 per barrel and have been locked within $1 of their previous settlement price, although the price did briefly dip below $44 a barrel to a one-week low.
