The
US dollar is generally a little firmer across the major FX board
today, with USD/JPY a notable mover back towards
128.50
(well shy of its highs into the 129s on Wednesday). There was no
catalysing move for the USD/JPY gains, market volatility is providing
the swings.
NZD/USD
was another notable mover. Q1 CPI data was released today, coming in
at a 3 decade high (but under survey expectations). There is another
inflation reading due from NZ soon, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s
Sectoral Factor Model, the Bank’s preferred measure of core
inflation (see bullets above).
It
was another weak setting for onshore yuan (i.e. strong USD/CNY) from
the People’s Bank of China today. On Wednesday the PBOC set the CNY
weaker than expected, but today it did not do so (it was set slightly
stronger than expected). The onshore yuan was set at its lowest
reference rate since November 11 last year.
NZD/USD, arrow points to CPI release response: