· The euro was poised near major chart resistance against the dollar on Monday as investors waited to hear the first official speech from the new head of the European Central Bank later in the session.
The euro started the week firm at $1.1170 EUR= as bulls looked to test the October peak of $1.1179 and the 200‑day moving average at $1.1195.
Against a basket of currencies, the dollar was stuck at 97.193 .DXY having touched a three-month low at 97.107 on Friday. It was now targeting the August trough of 97.033.
The dollar fared a little better on the yen as safe havens fell from fashion, edging up to 108.23 JPY= from Friday's low around 107.87. A holiday in Tokyo made for thin trading.
Sterling remained well bid at $1.2939 GBP=, after last month's rally from $1.2200, as investors wagered there was less risk of a hard Brexit now that an election campaign was underway.
“Global policy rates are converging once again at the bottom. That probably means less volatility among currencies as interest rate differentials shrink and the likelihood of any change in policy diminishes,” said Marshall Gittler, an analyst at ACLS Global.
“It’s also likely to mean a weaker USD, CAD, AUD and NZD as these are the currencies with the highest interest rates currently and therefore the greatest leeway to cut rates. This is probably why USD and CAD were the big losers last week.”
· Thailand still has time to renegotiate with the United States over a suspension of duty-free preferences on imports of Thai goods before the suspension takes effect in April, U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Monday.
· Southeast Asian countries are committed to signing a mega Asia Pacific trade pact in 2020 that would form a major trading bloc covering a third of the world’s gross domestic product, according to Thailand.
Thailand, which currently holds the ASEAN chairmanship, said Sunday in a statement that the group “welcomed the conclusion of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) negotiations and the commitment to sign the RCEP Agreement in 2020.”
India’s reluctance to open up its markets has been one of the major sticking factors in the talks, which started in 2013.
· Thailand said on Sunday that Southeast Asian nations are committed to signing a pact by February 2020 on forging what could become the world's largest trade bloc, even after new demands by India dealt a blow to the process backed by China.
Going into this weekend's summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Bangkok there had been hopes of finalizing negotiations this year on the 16-nation Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
But the ASEAN chairman's final statement released on Sunday night said the 10-nation grouping welcomed a "commitment to sign the RCEP Agreement in 2020".
· J.P. Morgan says foreign exchange deposits into Singapore’s banks have ramped up “quite sharply” in recent months.
Singapore has been said to be a direct beneficiary of the unrest in Hong Kong, with some bankers and wealth managers saying they have received more queries from clients to move funds to Singapore.
In the latest estimate, Goldman Sachs said in October that Hong Kong might have lost as much as $4 billion in deposits to Singapore, often seen as its rival for the role of Asia’s premier financial hub.
· Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held talks with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Monday in Bangkok, where they discussed plans for a state visit by President Xi Jinping to Japan next year.
Meeting on the fringe of a series of multinational gatherings under the Association of Southeast Asian Nations banner in the Thai capital, Abe and Li were expected to exchange views on regional affairs, including North Korea’s development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.
· China’s Foreign Ministry said on Monday that President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump have been in touch all along through various means, when asked when and where the two leaders might meet.
Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang made the comments at a daily news briefing in Beijing.
· If Brexit wasn’t enough for the British public to contend with, it is now facing a snap election around one of the busiest, darkest and coldest times of the year — the run-up to Christmas.
It’s well known that Brits are obsessed by the weather and when you combine that with an election at a time of huge political crisis it’s no surprise that some British newspapers have gone into hysteria mode over the timing of the vote on December 12.
· South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in on Monday suggested high-level talks to resolve a deepening political and trade row with Japan during a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Moon’s spokeswoman said.
The two leaders held an 11-minute discussion on the sidelines of a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Bangkok, the spokeswoman, Ko Min-jung, said in a statement.
The meeting comes as relations have plunged to their lowest in decades after South Korea’s top court last year ordered Japanese firms to compensate some wartime forced laborers.
· Will the upcoming U.K. election put an end to more than three years of Brexit uncertainty? Maybe not, experts say.
Quentin Peel, an associate fellow at the think tank Chatham House told CNBC Friday that there is a “pretty good chance we won’t” have clarity on Brexit after the election. Victoria Hewson, head of regulatory affairs at another think tank called The Institute of Economic Affairs, said this is “the most unpredictable election ever.”
U.K. voters are still profoundly divided over EU membership, with the 2016 referendum itself producing a 51.89% result for leave and 48.11% for remain.
· Oil prices eased on Monday as traders took profit ahead of fresh European and U.S. economic data, despite hopes for some resolution to the U.S.-China trade row that has hurt global economic growth and crimped energy demand.
Prices jumped about $2 a barrel on Friday after the world’s top two economies said they had made progress on trade talks while U.S. officials said the deal could be signed this month.
Brent crude futures for January LCOc1 fell 16 cents to $61.53 a barrel by 0727 GMT, while December U.S. crude futures CLc1 was at $56.04 a barrel, down 16 cents.
“Friday’s mega-rally was built on a combination of not-as-bad-as-feared data and optimism on a trade deal that really, only keeps the lights on. It does not increase the brightness of the world economy,” Jeffrey Halley, a Singapore-based senior market analyst for Asia Pacific at OANDA, wrote in a note.
“With plenty of oil going around for everyone from everywhere, oil, in particular, will be more susceptible to headline bombs this week.”
The European Union and the United States are set to announce manufacturing data on Monday with more U.S. and Chinese data to come later in the week.
Reference: Reuters, CNBC
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