A$ Pressured By CPI Data & HK/China Equities

Aussie is lower during today’s APAC session following a lower-than-expected CPI print, unchanged CNY fixing and weaker HK/China equities. AUDUSD fell to 0.6521 from 0.6539 following the CPI data. The pair began to recover but is now down 0.2% today to 0.6518 after a low of 0.6511. The USD index is 0.1% higher.

• Aussie is down 0.2% versus the yen to 98.83 after a low of 98.74. AUDNZD is off the intraday low of 1.0868 earlier to be around 1.0877, slightly lower. AUDEUR is down 0.2% to 0.6022 and AUDGBP -0.1% to 0.5166.
• February headline CPI was steady at 3.4% y/y, slightly lower than Bloomberg consensus, but the trimmed mean rose to 3.9% from 3.8% and services to 4.2% from 3.7%. The strength in underlying price pressures puts even more focus on April 24’s Q1 CPI release.
• Equities are mixed with the ASX up 0.3% but Hang Seng down 1.0%. The S&P e-mini is 0.2% higher. Oil prices have continued to fall with WTI down 0.7% to $81.03/bbl. Copper is 0.5% lower and iron ore is steady around $104/t.
• Later the Fed’s Waller and ECB’s Cipollone and Elderson speak. The March European Commission survey prints. Tomorrow Australian February retail sales and job vacancies are released.