JPY Leads The Pack In Early Tokyo Trade

JPY sits atop the G10 FX table, while the AUD is the worst performer, with talk of Tokyo based firms repatriating JPY after AUD/JPY firmed on Wednesday, with murmurs surrounding leveraged account selling of the rate also doing the rounds.

• Still, the move in JPY crosses is relatively large given the lack of meaningful headline flow observed thus far, particularly with U.S. Tsy yields nudging higher in early Asia dealing.
• AUD/USD is only incrementally lower, consolidating yesterday’s gain.
• Elsewhere, USD/CNH has edged back towards it multi-month trough, with continued focus on supportive Chinese policy settings (on both the fiscal and monetary fronts, with the PBoC reiterating the need for targeted, prudent monetary policy settings) as China looks to work its way through the well-documented economic headwinds.
• Note that the Hang Seng continues to move higher, showing over 2% firmer early on Thursday.
• Elsewhere, the EUR & GBP are 10-20 pips firmer vs. the greenback.
• Caixin services PMI data out of China headlines the docket during Asia-Pac hours. Further out, U.S. ADP crosses Thursday but the focus will quickly shift to Friday's release of Eurozone inflation data, followed by the December U.S. non-farm payrolls report. Thursday’s central bank speaker slate includes comments from Fed’s Bullard, Harker & Bostic, as well as Norges Bank Governor Bache.