Entering into US session, Australian Dollar is trading as the strongest one today, followed by Swiss Franc. On the other hand Yen is the weakest one, followed by New Zealand Dollar. Optimism on easing US-China trade tension is a generally theme today, lifting Asian and European stocks, except UK. Buying jumped in after China confirmed that they received the invitation from the US for meeting, and both side are working on the details.
Three central bank announced rate decision today. It’s Turkish central bank CBRT that stole the show. The Turkish Lira was firstly hammered down by President Tayyip Erdogan’s comments that interest rate is “tool of exploitation”. But that the CBRT delivered its promise and raised policy rate (one week repo auction rate) from 17.75% to 24%. USD/TRY hit as high as 6.5514 but the tumbled to 6.0619. It’s now down around -2.8%.
BoE kept Bank Rate unchanged at 0.75% as widely expected, by unanimous vote. ECB kept main refinancing rate unchanged at 0.00% as widely expected. Also, starting October, monthly asset purchase will be halved to EUR 15B, and end after December. ECB also said it intends to reinvest the principal payments “for an extended period of time”. Both decision triggered little reactions in the markets.
At the time of writing, FTSE is down -0.15%, DAX Up 0.59%, CAC up 0.51%. Earlier today, China SSE rose 1.15% to 2686.58 but failed to reclaim 2700. Hong Kong HSI rose 2.54%. Singapore Strait Times rose 0.23%. Nikkei added 0.96%.
US CPI and jobless claims are the next focuses.
