Subdued

A subdued session with many markets closed and participants in the region observing LNY.

• AUD is under some pressure, breaking out of yesterday's range, but still keeping losses to just a handful of pips. Data earlier showed consumer inflation expectations rose in February, while Treasurer Morrison said he was confident in the economic recovery and that government support would linger for the next 2-3 years.
• NZD seeing similar price action and losing a handful of pips. New Zealand's retail card spending fell 0.4% M/M last month after declining 0.6%, while total card spending fell 1.2% M/M vs. 0.6% prior. Retail card spending dwindled for the fourth month in a row.
• Japanese markets are closed for the National Foundation Day. USD/JPY little changed on the day. A Kyodo report noted that "PM Suga's administration is in the final stages of making a decision on maintaining the emergency declaration" and is now "leaning towards leaving in place the state of emergency declared in 10 prefectures, at least for this week, [...] instead of lifting it in three prefectures."
• Offshore yuan is oscillating between minor gains and minor losses. Press reports released over the last few hours have suggested that the first telephone call between US President Biden & his Chinese counterpart Xi could take place as soon as Wednesday evening, US time.