• The yen slipped on Tuesday after comments from the Bank of Japan chief quelled speculation the central bank follow other central banks in scaling back monetary stimulus, while the dollar recovered losses after the U.S. government’s shutdown ended.
The yen weakened to 111.15 yen to the dollar, down 0.2 percent from late U.S. levels, after BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda reiterated his commitment to strong monetary easing, saying there is still some distance to meeting inflation target.
That helped the Japanese currency reverse its earlier gains to 110.55 per dollar, which put it within sight of last week’s four-month low of 110.19, after the BOJ maintained its policy and its economic and price projections.
• The Bank of Japan kept monetary policy steady on Tuesday and offered a slightly more upbeat view on inflation expectations, underscoring its conviction the economy is making slow but steady progress towards its elusive 2 percent price target.
“Inflation expectations are moving sideways recently,” the BOJ said in a quarterly report, offering a more optimistic view than three months ago when it said they were moving on a weak note.
• The dollar’s index against a basket of major currencies stood at 90.49, not far off its three-year low of 90.104 touched on Jan. 17.
The euro stood at $1.2277, consolidating its rally after having hit a three-year high of $1.2323 on Jan. 17.
• President Donald Trump has signed into law a bill that ends the government shutdown, and provides congressional negotiators with additional time to hammer out an immigration reform package capable of passing both the House and Senate.
Hundreds of thousands of federal employees are expected to return to work on Tuesday morning, after spending the day Monday on furlough.
The bill funds the government for 17 days, and it funds the popular CHIP children's insurance program for six years. It does not include a permanent fix for the Obama-era DACA program, which Senate Democrats had originally demanded.
• The NAFTA trade agreement’s future hangs in the balance this week as negotiators from the United States, Canada and Mexico try to settle major differences over revamping a pact that President Donald Trump has threatened to abandon.
Senior officials from the three nations will meet in Montreal for a week starting on Tuesday in the sixth and penultimate round of talks to modernize the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement.
• A leading member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives has urged Social Democrats (SPD) to finish coalition talks within two to three weeks, warning that Germans were losing trust in democracy after months without a new government.
• Oil prices rose on Tuesday, lifted by healthy economic growth as well as the ongoing supply restraint by a group of exporters around OPEC and Russia.
Spot Brent crude futures LCOc1 were at $69.41 at 0409 GMT, up 38 cents, or 0.55 percent, from their last close, not far off the Jan. 15 three-year high of $70.37 a barrel.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were at $63.99 a barrel, up 42 cents, or 0.7 percent, from their last settlement. WTI hit its highest since December 2014 on Jan. 16 at $64.89 a barrel.
Reference: Reuters, CNBC
Thai
Eng