FX Range Trading, IDR Weaker Than At Last Week’s BI Meeting

FX moves have been limited during APAC trading today. The US dollar is little changed with the BBDXY index around 1267.92, close to the mid-April high. Kiwi has been the largest mover in the G10 in a generally weaker risk environment with NZDUSD falling 0.1% to 0.6114 off the intraday low of 0.6105.

• USDJPY rose to 159.92 as FX chief Kanda spoke about being prepared to intervene if yen moves are “excessive”. It trended lower on the release of the BoJ summary of opinions. The pair found a floor around 159.63 when finance minister Suzuki spoke on FX stability. The pair is currently down slightly on the day at 159.77.
• AUDUSD has range traded and is little changed at 0.6640 despite weaker equities but is off the intraday low of 0.6626. AUDNZD is 0.1% higher at 1.0861.
• European currencies are little changed with EURUSD at 1.0698 and GBPUSD 1.2649.
• The USDCNY fix printed at 7.1201 today after 7.1196 on Friday. This resulted in USDCNH jumping to 7.2946 briefly but currently it is around 7.2892 after a low of 7.2871.
• Asian currencies are also little changed with USDKRW up slightly to 1388.80.
• USDIDR is down 0.1% to 16440 after starting today around 16478, still higher than where it was when Bank Indonesia left rates unchanged last week. Governor Warjiyo said today that BI will continue to intervene and use its other instruments to support the rupiah but it sees the currency appreciating towards its “fundamental value”.
• The baht is struggling again with USDTHB up 0.2% to 36.74 but off the intraday high of 36.81. The pair is lower than its June 10 high of 36.94 to be down 0.1% this month but the market has been concerned about the government’s fiscal plans and political stability.