ForexLive Asia FX news wrap: China property developer seeks quicker sale of assets

It was a bit of a placeholder session for APAC FX, sandwiched between Friday’s NFP and the yet to come testimony from Federal Reserve System Chair Powell on Tuesday (10 January 2022 US time (see bullets above)). A holiday in Japan today thinned out both liquidity and interest too.

The USD opened a few points stronger across the major FX rate board and yen, CHF and EUR have all lost a little more ground. AUD/USD has recovered its early gap and added on a few points, without much of a readily evident smoking gun. Australia’s PM Morrison said the country must ‘push through’ the current outbreak. Meanwhile the second-most populous state tightened restrictions a little, banning indoor dancefloors (NSW did the same a few days prior). The gains for AUD are small.

News and data flow was very light. The numbers are showing that outbreaks of COVID-19 in China are on the rise, with worries that associated restrictions in the country, still pursuing ‘zero’ policies and now just weeks out from the opening of the Beijing Olympics, cannot be far behind. If so, the impacts on economic growth and for global supply chains will be negative. Also from China today, a leading property developer is offloading properties at an accelerated pace – asset sales needed to meet debt repayment obligations.

USD/JPY rose on the Japanese holiday: