Holding Above 1230, January Trade Figures Coming Up

The 1 month NDF retraced from late Asian session highs near 1238, dipping back to 1231 in NY trade. We finished the Tuesday session around 1232.50. This underperformed the softer USD indices, down close to 0.20% for Tuesday's session, while the 1 month NDF rose 0.16%. Note onshore spot ended yesterday at 1231.90.

• Today the focus will be on the Jan trade figures. The consensus is for -11.1% y/y for exports, -2.6% y/y for imports, while the trade deficit is forecast to re-widen to -$9.27bn from -$4.69bn.
• Also out is the Jan manufacturing PMI, which printed at 48.2 in Dec.
• The equity lead is better for the Kospi today, with the SOX +1.93%, MSCI IT +1.27% in Tuesday trade. Chip maker SK Hynix has reported disappointed earnings and sales earlier today though, which may weigh on local equity sentiment.
• To recap, the Kospi fell 1.04% yesterday, while offshore investors sold $305.1mn of local shares.
• The BoK minutes, released late yesterday, showed the dissenters (2 board members) were worried about the impact of tighter policy on the economy and that rates were already in restrictive territory.