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ForexLive Asia-Pacific FX news wrap: AUD up, RBA hikes +25bp as expected, AUD down | Forexlive

A shout out to Chinese mainland and Hong Kong stocks today, boith gained strongly in morning trade. USD/CNY hit a 15 year high today, i.e. the weakest for onshore yuan. A weak yuan is encouraging inflows to China after the big stockmarket slide in recent months.

Data from China was once again poor. While the Caixin manufacturing PMI for October reported today came in higher than in September it is still in contraction.

While on data, South Korea’s exports fell for the first time y/y in two years in October. This will add to the mix of concerns over a slowing South Korean economy. South Korea’s manufacturing PMI ticked up to 48.2 in October (vs 47.3 in September), in contraction for the fourth consecutive month.

USD/JPY fell during the session. We had comments from Japanese authorities on monitoring FX moves and what have you. None of the comments were a departure from what we normally hear. USD/JPY fell from a high above 148.80 (briefly only) to lows around 148.20. Japan’s government decided to retain its stake in the Sakhalin-1 operator in Russia, a positive, at the margin, for Japan energy.

The USD fell more widely also. EUR, GBP, CAD all rose against the big dollar. AUD and NZD did also ahead of the Reserve Bank of Australia monetary policy announcement.

The Reserve Bank of Australia raised its cash rate , +25bps was the consensus expectation. AUD/USD fell back after the announcment after its rally leading into the statement.

AUD dropped after the RBA announcement: