CAD Sustains Further Losses; Antipodean Pairs Pressured By Lockdowns

Sentiment remained broadly negative in Asia, the greenback continued its move higher early in the session but has retreated as the session wears on, brining major pairs back towards neutral levels heading into Europe.

• AUD/USD is down 6 pips, but well off worst levels. The Sydney lockdown was extended until the end of September, there were 642 new coronavirus cases reported, down from a record 681 yesterday.
• NZD/USD is down 4 pips having recovered from session lows. In New Zealand the countrywide lockdown was extended to midnight on 24 August; there were 3 case discovered in Wellington, the outbreak had previously been contained to Auckland. New Zealand PM Ardern said the country was in a "reasonable position" on the outbreak.
• USD/JPY is up 9 pips. Data showed CPI fell less than expected in July, dropping 0.3% against a consensus of a 0.4% decline. Core-Core CPI fell 0.6% against an estimated decline of 0.8%.
• USD/CNH rose 58 pips, the PBOC kept LPR rates on hold – there was an outside chance of a cut after some of the recent dovish PBOC moves, but state media telegraphed that the PBOC is unlikely to cut LPR rates in August.
• USD/CAD continued to March higher, gaining some 27 pips despite little in terms of idiosyncratic headline flow and slight bounce in oil.
• Elsewhere UK GfK consumer confidence printed -8 in August compared to -7 expected, GBP/USD is down 9 pips while EUR/USD is up 9 pips.
• Looking ahead markets await German PPI data and US retail sales figures.