investingLive Asia-Pacific FX news wrap: AUD jumps after hot CPI data trims RBA cut bets

Forex Short News

The focus today was Australia’s August monthly CPI report. While the monthly series does not capture all components of the CPI, it offers a timelier guide ahead of the full quarterly release in late October.

Headline inflation quickened to 3% y/y, the fastest pace in a year:

  • up from 2.8% in July

  • above the 2.9% consensus

  • at the top of the RBA’s 2–3% target band and above the 2.5% midpoint agreed with government

The data effectively rules out a rate cut at next week’s RBA meeting (Sept 29–30) and has trimmed market pricing for a November cut to around 50% from 70%. The Australian dollar jumped on the release and extended gains to above 0.6620. Australian equities subsided.

Elsewhere, Japan’s September PMIs were mixed — manufacturing contracted further while services expanded — leaving the yen a little weaker. In New Zealand, Finance Minister Willis confirmed Anna Breman, currently First Deputy Governor at Sweden’s Riksbank, will take over as RBNZ Governor on December 1.

The USD broadly firmed during the session, though AUD was a clear outperformer. Equities traded mixed. In crypto, Tether is reportedly targeting a US$500 billion valuation in a major capital raise.

Asia-Pac
stocks:

  • Japan
    (Nikkei 225) -0.25%
  • Hong
    Kong (Hang Seng) +0.72%
  • Shanghai
    Composite +0.46%
  • Australia
    (S&P/ASX 200) -0.97%

This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at investinglive.com.