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☆ Dollar slips as bets mount for less hawkish Fed, euro above parity
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Rae Wee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The euro peaked at $1.00935 and sterling at $1.1645 in early Asia trade, both their highest since Sept. 13. "Our sense is that fundamentally, there are factors that are still favouring the U.S. dollar: rate differentials, the fact that the Fed still has more work to do," said Rodrigo Catril, senior currency strategist at National Australia Bank. The Canadian dollar last traded at 1.3549 per U.S. dollar. Against a basket of currencies, the U.S. dollar index was up 0.06% at 109.63, following a 1.1% fall overnight. The kiwi rose to $0.58505, its highest in more than a month, and was last up 0.19% at $0.5842.

☆ Reaction to China's 20th Communist Party Congress
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Oct 23 (Reuters) - China's Xi Jinping secured a precedent-breaking third leadership term on Sunday and introduced a new Politburo Standing Committee stacked with loyalists, cementing his place as the country's most powerful ruler since Mao Zedong. I can imagine that zero-COVID policy is likely more entrenched and there’s going to be further push on this issue of common prosperity and the like.”CHRIS MILLER, PROFESSOR AT TUFTS UNIVERSITY, MASSACHUSETTS“The party congress has reaffirmed Xi's decisive role in ruling the Communist Party, marking a continued shift away from collective leadership of party elites toward a personalized dictatorship. It also appears to have confirmed the downgrading of economic growth as a key party goal, relative to other agenda items such as zero-COVID and the party's political and ideological control. On tech, the key theme was self-sufficiency in science and technology, which is to be expected given the increasing decoupling of the U.S. and Chinese tech sectors.”GARY NG, SENIOR ECONOMIST, ASIA PACIFIC, NATIXIS, HONG KONG“The new inner circle will extend and heighten the current policy stance, and generally it seems that most of the newly appointed officials seem to be Xi’s key allies. So I guess this is also a move of the further consolidation of power, or maybe in the future, of course, performance is important, but also loyalty is increasingly a key concern when picking officials.”Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Rae Wee in Singapore and Xie Yu in Hong Kong; Editing by William MallardOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Yen softens past 150 per dollar for first time since 1990
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Alun John | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

LONDON, Oct 20 (Reuters) - The dollar hit the symbolic level of 150 yen for the first time since 1990 on Thursday as the greenback was supported by Treasury yields trading at multi-year highs, keeping markets on high alert for intervention from Japanese authorities. The fragile yen briefly weakened past 150 per dollar in early European trading for the first time since August 1990. It was last trading a touch below that level, at 149.7 yen per dollar. This has sent U.S. yields and the dollar higher, particularly against the yen as the Bank of Japan is committed to keeping interest rates near zero. The benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury yield rose to 4.18% on Thursday, its highest level since mid-2008, while the two-year Treasury yields touched a 15-year high of 4.614%.

SINGAPORE/LONDON, Oct 20 (Reuters) - The dollar hit the symbolic level of 150 yen on Thursday as the greenback was supported by Treasury yields trading at multi-year highs, keeping markets on high alert for any signs of an intervention from Japanese authorities. Moves among other majors were more muted with the euro at $0.97835 and sterling at $1.1217, both failing to regain ground on the dollar, after tumbling the day before. The fragile yen briefly weakened past 150 per dollar in early European trading for the first time since August 1990. The Japanese currency has been weakening as the country's central bank has been intervening in markets to keep Japanese benchmark yields pinned near zero, at a time when those elsewhere are rising. The benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury yield rose to 4.18% on Thursday, its highest level since mid-2008, while the two-year Treasury yields touched a 15-year high of 4.6079%.

☆ Dollar rides Treasury yields higher, yen closes in on key 150 level
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Rae Wee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

SINGAPORE, Oct 20 (Reuters) - The dollar loomed over major peers on Thursday as Treasury yields peaked at multi-year highs, while the yen slid to a fresh 32-year low and kept markets on high alert for any signs of an intervention. The fragile yen hit a fresh trough of 149.98 per dollar, its lowest since August 1990, and last bought 149.975. "Given that Treasury yields have moved decisively above 4%, were it not for the threat of intervention then I think dollar/yen would already be trading north of 150." The benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury yield rose to 4.154% on Thursday, its highest level since mid-2008, while the two-year Treasury yields touched a 15-year high of 4.582%. "Because central banks misjudged how high inflation would go, they're really still catching up by increasing interest rates significantly, and that's going to cause big problems for the world economy, particularly next year," said CBA's Capurso.

☆ Dollar rides Treasury yields higher, yen flirts with key 150 level
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Rae Wee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The Japanese yen hit a fresh trough of 149.96 per dollar, its lowest since August 1990, and last bought 149.92. "Given that Treasury yields have moved decisively above 4%, were it not for the threat of intervention then I think dollar/yen would already be trading north of 150." The benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury yield rose to 4.154%, its highest level since mid-2008, while the two-year Treasury yields touched a 15-year high of 4.582%. It bottomed at 7.2794 per dollar, the lowest level since such data first became available in 2011, and last traded 7.2615. It had hit an almost two-week high of $0.5719 on Tuesday, following release of a hot inflation data, prompting bets of a more aggressive central bank rate hike.

"It's a catch-up, or catch-down, kind of effect," said Galvin Chia, an emerging markets strategist at NatWest Markets. "There are some exceptional factors, but none of these would provide that kind of panacea for underlying risks that remain." Indonesia's foreign exchange reserves fell by $1.4 billion last month to $130.8 billion, due to debt payments and Bank Indonesia's efforts to stabilise the rupiah. read moreData for September also showed a surge in Indonesia's inflation to a seven-year high, reflecting a jump in fuel prices. "If you look at consumption, look at credit growth, everything is domestic, unlike the other export markets in Asia.

☆ Singapore's digital wealth platform Endowus acquires HK'S Carret Private
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SINGAPORE, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Singapore-based digital wealth advisor Endowus has acquired a majority stake in Hong Kong-based wealth manager and multi-family office Carret Private Investments Limited, it announced on Monday. With the acquisition, total assets under management of the Endowus group - comprising Endowus' licensed companies in Singapore and Hong Kong, as well as Carret Private - stands at over $4 billion across tens of thousands of clients as at the end of the first half this year. The group, through Carret Private’s minority shareholding, will also have a partnership with Singapore-based wealth advisor and multi-family office Lumen Capital Investors. Lumen is founded and led by Wilfried Kofmehl, former CEO of Bank Julius Baer Singapore. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Rae Wee; editing by Diane CraftOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Volatile sterling surges on reports of potential UK fiscal plan U-turn
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Joice Alves | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

However, the central bank later officially reiterated that its programme of temporary gilt purchases will end on Oct. 14. UK pension schemes are racing to raise hundreds of billions of pounds to shore up derivatives positions before the BoE's Friday deadline. The yen "has lost its safe haven appeal," said Rodrigo Catril, a senior currency strategist at National Australia Bank. Investors were focusing on U.S. core inflation data due later, which is projected at 6.5% year-on-year in September. Minutes from the Federal Reserve's policy meeting last month showed that officials agreed they needed to raise interest rates to a more restrictive level - and then keep them there for some time - to meet their goal of lowering "broad-based and unacceptably high" inflation.

☆ Sterling volatile ahead of BoE deadline, fragile yen tests 1998 low
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Joice Alves | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

LONDON, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Sterling rose on Thursday in volatile trade as investors awaited the impending deadline for the Bank of England to end an emergency bond-buying programme. Sterling was up 0.44% at $1.1147 at 1054 GMT in a volatile week. "We can expect potential market take-up to continue to increase as market participants prepare for the BoE to exit the market. Sterling volatilityElsewhere, the yen struggled against the U.S. dollar trading 0.1% lower at 146.8. Investors were focusing on U.S. core inflation data due later today, which is projected to rise 6.5% year-on-year in September.

A fragile yen languished near a fresh 24-year low, while markets were also on edge ahead of U.S. inflation data due later in the day for possible clues on how much higher the Federal Reserve will push interest rates. On Thursday, BoE saidUK pension schemes are racing to raise hundreds of billions of pounds to shore up derivatives positions before the BoE's Friday deadline. "We can expect potential market take-up to continue to increase as market participants prepare for the BoE to exit the market. Another currency struggling against the U.S. dollar was the yen , which traded 0.1% lower at 146.8. The yen "has lost its safe haven appeal," said Rodrigo Catril, a senior currency strategist at National Australia Bank.

☆ Fragile yen tests 1998 low, sterling holds its breath
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Rae Wee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The yen hit a trough of 146.98 per dollar overnight and last traded at 146.87. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterIt is a whisker away from its August 1998 low of 147.64 per dollar, and well past last month's low of 145.90 per dollar which prompted Japanese authorities to intervene to buy the yen. "It has lost its safe haven appeal," said Rodrigo Catril, a senior currency strategist at National Australia Bank. The Aussie was up 0.02% at $0.6279, after sliding to a 2-1/2-year low of $0.62355 in the previous session. Overnight, data showed that U.S. producer prices increased more than expected last month.

☆ Sterling slides after BOE jumps into gilt market, dollar marches on
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( Alun John | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Pound and U.S. dollar banknotes are seen in this illustration taken January 6, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File PhotoLONDON, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Sterling tumbled again on Wednesday after the Bank of England (BOE) said it would step in to prop up the gilt market, the latest sign of nerves in financial markets which helped nudge the dollar to its latest two-decade peak. The BOE said it would buy as many long-dated government bonds as needed between now and Oct. 14 to stabilise financial markets, and added that it would postpone next week's start of its gilt sale programme. "As the rest of the world is in tightening mode, this should be sterling negative. Long-dated British government prices soared after the announcement and the yield on the 30-year gilt slid around 30 basis points.

☆ Sterling crumbles to all-time low, euro at 20-year low
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( Dhara Ranasinghe | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterBut it was sterling's slide that rippled across markets, down as much as 4.9% to an all-time low of $1.0327 . Sterling was also down 1% against the euro, having hit its lowest since September 2020 at 92.60 pence . The euro also touched a fresh 20-year trough at $0.9528 and was last down 0.5%. And the dollar index - where the basket includes sterling, the euro and the yen - reached 114.58 for the first time since May 2002, reflecting the greenback's broad strength. The risk-sensitive Australian dollar dropped to $0.64845, its lowest since May 2020, and the Canadian dollar touched 1.3638 to its U.S. counterpart, its weakest since July 2020.

☆ Sterling crumbles to all-time nadir, euro at 20-year low
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( Dhara Ranasinghe | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Sterling also tumbled 1.3% against the euro, having hit its lowest since September 2020 at 92.60 pence . Kit Juckes, head of currency strategy Societe Generale in London, said markets had a tendency to overshoot but noted two points on sterling's slide. "The second is that the mini budget has allowed sterling to be the short of choice against the dollar." The euro also touched a fresh 20-year trough at $0.9528 , as the pound's slide rippled across markets. China's offshore yuan slid to a new low of 7.1728 per dollar, its weakest since May 2020.

☆ Yen propped up after intervention, dollar powers through
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-23 | by ( Rae Wee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Banknotes of Japanese yen are seen in this illustration picture taken September 22, 2022. The yen was up about 0.1% to 142.24 per dollar in early Asian trade, though trading was thin with Japan on a public holiday. The yen rallied more than 1% and hit a session-low of 140.31 on Thursday, on news Japan had bought yen to defend its battered currency. "My sense is that the law of diminishing returns will set in, as far as intervention is concerned." The benchmark 10-year Treasury yields hit an 11-year high of 3.718% overnight, while two-year yields remained well above 4% and last stood at 4.1223%.

☆ Analysis: Japan is chasing its tail on yen intervention
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-23 | by ( Vidya Ranganathan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Banknotes of Japanese yen are seen in this illustration picture taken September 22, 2022. Thursday's sudden burst of yen-buying intervention by Japanese authorities -- the first instance since 1998 - caused a large 6 yen move between 140 and 146 in the dollar-yen exchange rate . U.S. policy rates are now 3 percentage points higher than Japan's. Governor Haruhiko Kuroda made clear that policy won't change, and even the yen the BOJ is buying as part of intervention will be replaced. while the boj intervened heavily between april and june 1998, the yen didn't trough until September.

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