FOREX: AUD/USD, NZD/USD drifting a little lower in the first part of [...]

JAPAN FINMIN KATAYAMA: MONITORING DEBT MARKET SITUATIONS WITH EXTREMELY HIGH SENSE OF URGENCY" - RTRS

"JAPAN FINMIN KATAYAMA: WON’T COMMENT ON SPECIFIC LEVELS, IN RESPONSE TO QUESTION ABOUT BENCHMARK JGB YIELD HITTING 3%

JAPAN FINMIN KATAYAMA: INTEREST RATES ARE DETERMINED BY MARKETS DEPENDING ON VARIOUS FACTORS" - RTRS 

"*BOJ'S UEDA: TO MAKE POLICY JUDGEMENT WITH UPSIDE RISK IN MIND" - BBG

'BOJ GOV UEDA: WHETHER LIKELIHOOD OF ECONOMIC SCENARIO MATERIALISING HAS HEIGHTENED, AND WHETHER INFLATION RISKS HAVE HEIGHTENED, ARE SOMETHING WE WOULD LIKE TO DISCUSS AT NEXT BOARD MEETING - [RTRS]"

"BOJ GOV UEDA: MONETARY CONDITIONS REMAIN ACCOMMODATIVE SO WE WOULD LIKE TO CONTINUE RAISING RATES

BOJ GOV UEDA: WE HAVE RAISED OUR POLICY RATE FIVE TIMES SO FAR, SO WE NEED TO CAREFULLY SCRUTINISE HOW THE CUMULULATIVE IMPACT COULD AFFECT ECONOMY

BOJ GOV UEDA: HAVING SAID THAT, WE WILL ALSO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT UPSIDE PRICE RISKS IN DELIBERATING POLICY" - RTRS

Spot USD/CNH tracks near 6.7225 in early Wednesday dealings, after the pair rose modestly for Tuesday's session. USD support was evident in terms of higher oil prices/UST yields, as US-Iran traded tit for tat strikes in the Middle East. The CNH loss of 0.06% outperformed the +0.20% rise for the BBDXY index. More broadly, USD/CNH is stuck in its flat range trade dating back to mid August. The recent rally above 6.7300, ran out of steam near the 20-day EMA, which comes in at 6.7330 today. Spot USD/CNY finished up yesterday at 6.7208, while the CNY CFETS basket tracker was flat at 101.83, up from recent lows (101.37) as the USD index has stabilized (aided by the above supports, oil/UST yield gains etc). 

• Headlines crossed a short while ago from US Tsy Secretary Bessent, who stated at the G20 press conference: "Bessent says 19 finance ministers agreed 'never-ending stream of cheap exports' is unsustainable, but China dissented." (via AP). Via BBG: "Bessent urged some of his G20 counterparts to take a page from the Trump administration's playbook of using tariffs and other measures to crack down on trade imbalances."
• This will keep US-China relations in focus ahead of the President Xi's planned trip to the US later this month.  Market expectations for a meaningful break through in terms of reduced trade tensions/tariffs etc are likely to be fairly low at this stage.
• The USD/CNY fix still looks supportive of lower USD/CNH levels (albeit in a continued low vol backdrop) but the August rising in the fixing was a modest 0.10% (after a 0.32% gain in July).
• The local data calendar is empty until tomorrow's RatingDog services PMI (the market forecast is a 50.6 outcome after 50.4 printed for July). Earlier this week the official PMIs for August were mixed, with non-manufacturing (services) staying unchanged at 49.0). The manufacturing side has been firmer (yesterday's RatingDog outcome up to 51.5 (versus 51.0 forecast).