Risk Sentiment Turns Positive, Commodity-Tied FX Firm Up

Asia-Pac equity benchmarks firmed up at the start to the week, with commodity-tied FX rising in tandem. Sentiment was aided by the relaxation of Hong Kong's partial lockdown and weekend comments from U.S. Senator Sanders, who suggested that Democratic lawmakers may pass the Covid-19 relief package via the reconciliation approach (using a simple majority).

• NZD/USD shook off its initial weakness, seen after New Zealand reported its first community case of Covid-19 in two months, and returned onto the $0.7200 handle. AUD/NZD was trapped within a familiar range, as both Antipodean currencies sat atop the G10 pile.
• Safe havens cheapened amid broader appetite for riskier FX. USD/JPY crept higher into the Tokyo fix, perhaps on the back of Gotobi day demand, before easing off later in the session. The DXY faltered but last Friday's low remained intact.
• PBOC fixed USD/CNY at 6.4816, in line with sell-side estimates.
• Coming up today we have German IFO Survey and a speech from EU Justice Commissioner on the rule-of-law mechanism. As a reminder, the World Economic Forum kicks off, adding to the central bank speaker slate. Remarks are due from ECB's Lagarde, Panetta, Lane, Mahklouf & Weidmann, PBoC Gov Yi and BoE Gov Bailey.