· The dollar edged up slightly against the yen while risk-sensitive currencies held firm on Thursday, buoyed by optimism of easing trade tensions between the United States and China and signs of recovering global growth.
Against the yen, the dollar rose 0.2% to 109.54 yen JPY= and within striking distance of a six-month high of 109.73 touched earlier this month. The euro barely moved at $1.10905 EUR=.
Global currency markets remained in holiday mood following Christmas Day on Wednesday and with several centers still closed on Thursday.
“While global share prices have been rallying, the currency market has seen limited reaction so far but I think currencies will have a catch-up to do,” said Koichi Kobayashi, chief manager of forex at Mitsubishi UFJ Trust Bank.
Elsewhere, sterling traded at $1.2986 GBP=D4, up a bit from levels before the Christmas holidays though still way below its Dec. 13 peak of $1.3516.
· US President Donald Trump is perceived in Germany as a greater threat to world peace than Russia's head of state Vladimir Putin or the North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un.
According to a poll conducted by the YouGov polling agency on behalf of the German Press Agency, Trump is also believed to be more dangerous than Iran's political and religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and China's President Xi Jinping.
Forty-one percent of respondents said Trump was the greatest threat to world peace out of these five personalities. 17 percent chose Kim, 8 percent each for Putin and Khamenei and 7 percent for Xi.
A YouGov survey had already given a similar picture last year. At that time, however, only Trump, Kim and Putin were compared. 48 percent said the US President was the greatest threat to world peace from this trio, 21 percent chose Kim, 15 percent Putin. Between December 16 and 18, 2024 people in Germany took part in the current survey.
· Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said on Thursday that the central bank would ease policy further without hesitation if the momentum toward it 2% inflation target came under threat.
The central bank last week left its target for short-term rates at -0.1% and that for 10-year bond yields around 0%, and it stuck to its assessment that Japan’s economy continues to expand moderately as a trend.
· China plans 800 billion yuan ($114.38 billion) in railway investment, 1.8 trillion yuan in highway and waterway investment and 90 billion yuan in civil aviation investment in 2020, state radio said on Thursday citing Minister of Transport Li Xiaopeng as saying.
· Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday told Chinese Premier Li Keqiang that there would be no true improvement in bilateral relations without stability in the East China Sea, Japan’s foreign ministry said.
Abe also urged Li to swiftly remove import restrictions on Japanese food products, the ministry said in a summary of the meeting.
· The protests, along with uncertainties such as the U.S.-China trade war, sent the Hong Kong economy into a recession for the first time in a decade.
It could get worse for the city. Iris Pang, greater China economist at Dutch bank ING, projected Hong Kong’s annual gross domestic product to fall by 2.25% in 2019 and 5.8% in 2020.
· Despite a strong start to this decade in 2010, emerging market stocks underperformed developed market peers and were weighed down by events such as the Chinese market sell-off, debt crises in Turkey and Argentina and the Sino-U.S. trade war.
MSCI’s index of emerging market stocks .MSCIEF has risen just 15% since the start of 2010, while the MSCI World index .MIWO00000PUS delivered a massive 104% return in that period.
Thailand, Philippines and Taiwan led emerging markets, with gains of more than 50% each over the past decade, while Greece, Turkey and Czech Republic bottomed the list with negative returns.
· China is in close touch with the United States on signing a Phase 1 trade deal, the country’s commerce ministry said on Thursday, adding that both sides are still going through necessary procedures before the signing.
· China strongly opposes the 2020 U.S. defense draft against Chinese firms and urges Washington to go past its political bias to create favorable conditions for Chinese companies, China’s commerce ministry said on Thursday.
China will closely monitor the situation and defend the interests of Chinese firms, Gao Feng, spokesman at the ministry, said at a regular media briefing.
· The growing cooperation between China and the United States will benefit not only the two countries but the rest of the world, said a leading think tank based here.
In a report released this month and titled "Reconsidering U.S.-China Economic Relations -- the Way Forward," the Bay Area Council Economic Institute, which focuses on critical economic and policy issues impacting the metropolitan region surrounding the San Francisco Bay, addressed a wide range of issues between the world's two largest economies.
· Oil prices rose on Thursday, buoyed by a potential breakthrough in the Sino-U.S. trade war and OPEC-led efforts to constrain supply, although trading was quiet as many markets were in holiday mode.
Brent crude LCOc1 was up 28 cents, or 0.4%, at $67.48 a barrel by 0651 GMT.
West Texas Intermediate CLc1 was up 25 cents, also a 0.4% gain, at $61.36 a barrel.
“Oil prices continue to show year-end strength supported by a combination of definitive progress on the U.S.-China trade deal, the Dec OPEC/OPEC+ agreement, and slowing shale activity,” said Stephen Innes, chief Asia market strategist at AxiTrader.
“All of which is pointing to a stronger performance for oil prices in Q1 than anyone had thought only two months ago.”
Reference: Reuters, FXStreet,Xinhua,CNBC
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