Forex Marketz Daily Forex News – Fully Markets Update
Asian and Pacific Rim traders are cautious Wednesday as the headline regional equity benchmarks were mixed. Asian traders are monitoring trade headlines between the United States and China as well as currency policy from the People’s Bank of China. The USD/CNH offshore exchange rate remains above the key $7 level on Wednesday.
In Japan, the Asian benchmark, the Nikkei 225, was down over half a percent. Index heavyweight, Fanuc saw their shares shed 1.34 percent. In Tokyo, the broader Topix index was down 0.22 percent.
In South Korea, the benchmark Kospi composite index was trading around the flat line. Shares of blue chip SK Hynix added 1.81 percent.
In Australia, the headline S&P ASX 200 was down a fraction during the afternoon hours.
On the mainland, in China, shares were trading higher by lunch. The Shanghai composite added a quarter of a percent and the smaller Shenzhen composite rose 0.54 percent. The Shenzhen component added 0.74 percent.
In Hong Kong, the benchmark Hang Seng index was down about a quarter of a percent.
Asian Traders Watch the Trade War with Concern
China and the United States, the world’s two largest economies, fighting an escalating trade war. The trade war resumed, last week, after U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly announced new tariffs of ten percent against $300 billion of Chinese imports into the U.S.
China then responded by ending all American agricultural imports and they allowed their currency to weaken past a key and all-important level at $7. This then prompted the U.S. Treasury Department to label China as a currency manipulator. This morning, the People’s Bank of China set the mid-point at $6.9996.
This morning, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand stunned the financial markets when they announced an aggressive 50 basis point rate cut that brought their overnight cash rate (OCR) down from 1.5 percent to one percent with the possibility of another 25 basis point rate cut before the end of the year.
