STIR: $-Bloc Markets Little Changed Over Past Week, Except For AUS

On Tuesday AUD/USD gave back all of Monday's gains as Trump makes a U-turn saying he won’t fire Powell and made comments that seemed to soften his stance towards China. According to Bloomberg, a panel of political experts thought Peter Dutton emerged as a narrow winner in last night’s third debate. In the crosses the AUD has managed to hold onto most of its recent gains, with risk appetite firmer in early Wednesday trade.

• EUR/AUD - Overnight range 1.7860 - 1.7983. Asia is trading much lower around 1.7800, with a second leg higher in risk as Tesla shares rally up to 7%. During its earning call Elon Musk says he is to pull back significantly from DOGE. Support is seen in the 1.7700 area.
• GBP/AUD - Overnight range 2.0830 - 2.0966. Asia is trading lower as the pair breaks its overnight lows. Good support around 2.0600 should see buyers emerge once more.
• AUD/JPY - Overnight range 89.65 - 90.50, Asia has burst through the overnight highs and is trading around 90.90. The break below 90.00 could not be sustained as risk reversed higher. Should stocks manage to build on this rally then AUD/JPY could test last week's highs around 91.50, a break would result in further paring back of shorts.
• AUD/NZD -  Overnight range 1.0652 - 1.0704, the cross is dealing in Asia around 1.0690 with very little direction. The cross has finally seemed to find some support towards 1.0650, bounces back towards 1.0800 should find willing sellers.

Fig 1: AUD/JPY spot Daily Chart

Source: MNI - Market News/Bloomberg

SELL 8200 of USM5 traded at 108-06, post-time 01:25:20 BST (DV01 $353,017). The contract is currently dealing at 108-07 3/4, +0-00+ from closing levels.

BUY 2800 of USM5 traded at 114-22, post-time 01:25:20 BST (DV01 $353,492). The contract is currently dealing at 114-18, +0-31 from closing levels.

The USD/CNY fix printed at 7.2116, versus a BBG market consensus of 7.3417. 

• Today's fix saw a re-widening of the error term to -1301pips from -818pips yesterday. This fits with higher USD index levels over the past 24 hours.
• The actual fix was still below recent highs, which rest at 7.2133.
• USD/CNH dipped to lows of 7.2922 earlier, but sits back around 7.3050 in latest dealings. We saw earlier support for CNH following comments from US President Trump that the final tariff rate on China would be lower than the 145% that currently prevails.