The
debt ceiling negotiations news out of the US late afternoon was that
the Friday meeting planned between US President Biden and
Congressional leaders had been cancelled, postponed until next week.
The news further said that staff-level discussions were continuing
but had not reached a stage of bothering to bring the leaders
together. The White House said that ongoing staff-level negotiations
were a positive. Huh, we’ll see. It could be an “interesting”
weekend if less encouraging developments are forthcoming.
Apart
from this news, data, and central banks were all quiet.
Major
FX rates moved very little indeed, all confined to small ranges only.
Asian
equity markets:
-
Japan’s
Nikkei 225 +0.8% -
China’s
Shanghai Composite -0.6% -
Hong
Kong’s Hang Seng -0.4% -
South
Korea’s KOSPI -0.6% -
Australia’s
S&P/ASX 200 -0.2%
Offshore yuan found some minor support against a larger trend (USD/CNH a touch down on the session)