Risk sentiment had another difficult..........>

FOREX: Risk sentiment had another difficult session as Asia-Pac equity

benchmarks dropped across the board, cued by an earlier rout in their U.S.

counterparts. With the focus remaining on spreading Covid-19, participants

continued to flock into safe haven assets. JPY comfortably outperformed all of

its G10 peers, with USD/JPY probing the water south of the Y109.00 mark.

- NZD tumbled as local press circulated reports re: first NZ patient being

tested for coronavirus (no headlines crossed main news wires). The rate extended

gains as RNZ cited a confirmation of the first NZ Covid-19 case from PM Ardern.

Mkt pricing of an OCR reduction at the next RBNZ meeting jumped from y'day's

~26% to ~47% seen as we type. High-beta peers softened in tandem.

- IDR was the laggard in Asian EM basket, which prompted a BI intervention. KRW

outperformed in the space after South Korea said it's ready to stabilise FX mkts

in case of sharp, one-sided moves. USD/yuan was confined to y'day's range.

- Flash French & German CPIs, Canadian GDP and U.S. MNI Chicago PMI & personal

income/spending take focus from here. Central bank speaker slate features ECB's

Weidmann, Fed's Bullard, as well as BoE's Haldane & Cunliffe.