FX In Tight Ranges Ahead Of US CPI Data

Ahead of the US CPI data later today and given China/HK are still closed currencies are moving in tight ranges and are little changed against the US dollar. Kiwi and Aussie are mildly underperforming. The BBDXY USD index is flat.

• AUDUSD has looked through today’s data and has been driven by the greenback. It is down slightly to 0.6528. AUDNZD is little changed at 1.0653 and AUDJPY at 97.49. Local equities are lower but the rest of Asia is higher.
• Comments from the RBA’s Kohler were in line with Governor Bullock’s last week but she put particular emphasis on bringing down services inflation in order to achieve target.
• Westpac consumer confidence rose strongly on lower inflation and an RBA that seems on hold for now. The NAB business survey showed conditions continued to soften but price/cost pressures remained solid.
• NZDUSD is down moderately to 0.6127 but off earlier lows. NZ inflation expectations data is out soon.
• USDJPY is steady around 149.37 off the intraday low of 149.27. PPI data for January were in line with expectations coming in flat on the month to be up 0.2% y/y.
• EURUSD is steady at 1.0769 and GBPUSD at 1.2624.
• Later the focus is on the US CPI (see MNI US CPI Preview) which is forecast to moderate to 0.5pp to 2.9%. There is also US real earnings for January and UK employment/wages are released later. The ECB’s Buch and Tuominen make appearances.