Currency Markets Move on Data Releases
The currency markets moved on various economic data releases in different countries.
In Asian trading, the dollar surprisingly moved up in spite of the tepid manufacturing data. The dollar index was 0.1% higher.
Against the Chinese yuan, the buck traded 7.1477. The Chinese are celebrating the 70th year of Communist rule in China.
However, events in Hong Kong overshadowed the celebration. Reports said that Hong Kong police shot a demonstrator with a live round for the first since the protests started.
Against the British pound, the dollar lost 0.2% to 1.2280. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will be revealing his final Brexit proposal to the European Union later in the day.
Johnson emphasized that the UK won’t negotiate further if the EU rejected the proposal. He has pledged to pull the UK out of the EU “come what may.”
Manufacturing Data Moves the Currency Market
The US manufacturing data showed a rock-bottom reading in more than 10 years in September. The trade war drove exports down.
According to the Institute for Supply Management, the September US manufacturing PMI was at 47.8%. This is the lowest level it reached since June 2009. This is also the second month in a row that data showed levels below 50, which indicates contraction.
Similarly, the kiwi dollar came under pressure as business confidence in the country apparently declined. According to ANZ bank, confidence levels in the business sector fell to the lowest since April 2008.
The kiwi fell 0.6% against the buck after the news on the fx markets.
Over in Canada, economic data had not been good too. Data from statistics Canada showed that the economy stalled suddenly after four months of growth.
The loonie traded at75.24 cents against the dollar after the July GDP data. Analysts had expected a 0.1% increase in July after the 0.2% increase in June.
