Risk Environment More Constructive To Start The Session

A slightly more benign risk environment in place to start the session on Wednesday. AUD/USD is up 4 pips, shrugging off chatter of another high case count in NSW while the lockdown of Sydney is expected to be formally extended today. CPI data will be in focus later in the session. NZD/USD is up 5 pips.

• USD/JPY is up 6 pips. The BoJ summary of opinions was released to little fanfare, the Central Bank mentioned that any uptick in CPI was expected to be transitory and noted it would not tighten prematurely. Meanwhile in the shadow of the Olympic Games, Tokyo's daily Covid-19 case count hit another record, with the capital adding 2,848 new infections on Tuesday.
• Offshore yuan is slightly stronger, USD/CNH coming off closing highs after offshore yuan saw its worst day since October. Chinese state media released a piece saying investors shouldn't be worried about the stock plunge. The IMF trimmed its economic growth forecast for China this year to 8.1% from 8.4%.
• Coming up later in the session is the aforementioned Australia Q2 CPI print, while broader focus will be on Chinese equity markets after a sharp sell off since the end of last week. Later in the day attention will turn to the FOMC rate announcement.