China cuts 1yr LPR by 10 bps vs 15 bp expectation
Dollar/yuan up beyond 7.3; Aussie and kiwi vulnerable
Yen on intervention watch, steady at 145.45
The dollar began on a firm footing on Monday, following five straight weeks of gains, as investors looked ahead to the Federal Reserve's Jackson Hole symposium for a guide on where rates might settle when the dust of this hiking cycle clears.
The dollar made a gain of 0.7% on the euro EUR=EBS last week, inched ahead on the yen and surged by more than 1% on the Antipodean currencies as U.S. Treasury yields leapt in anticipation of interest rates staying higher for longer.
In early trade, the Australian dollar AUD=D3 , at $0.6402, and the New Zealand dollar NZD=D3 at $0.5913 were slightly lower and uncomfortably close to last week's nine-month lows after a rate cut in China disappointed market expectations.
China cut its one-year benchmark lending rate CNYLPR1Y=CFXS by 10 basis points and left its five-year rate unchanged, against economists' expectations for 15 bp cuts to both.
The yuan CNY=CFXS slid to the weak side of 7.3 per dollar despite a firm fixing of its trading range by the central bank. It last traded at 7.3011, though so far keeping off last week's lows beyond 7.31, as that had brought state banks into spot markets in London and New York hours as buyers.
The Antipodean currencies often function as a liquid proxy for the yuan owing to the region's exports to China.
"The Australian dollar will continue to underperform this week in our view," said strategists at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in a note to clients.
"We consider there is a growing risk that the Aussie dips below $0.60 before year-end. It will likely take a big Chinese stimulus package focused on commodity-intensive infrastructure spending to turn around the downtrend."
Like the yuan, the yen JPY=EBS is also on intervention-watch, having fallen to levels around which authorities stepped in last year. It was steady at 145.19 per dollar in early trade.
The euro held at $1.0871. Sterling GBP=D3 hovered at $1.2738. The Swiss franc CHF=EBS was just above a six-week low made last week at 0.8817 per dollar.
Apart from waiting for news of stimulus in China, the upcoming Jackson Hole symposium - where Fed chair Jerome Powell is due to speak on Friday - is markets' major focus and may set the direction for U.S. yields.
Ten-year yields US10YT=TWEB rose 14 basis points for the week and touched a 10-month high of 4.328%, within a whisker of a 15-year high. Thirty-year yields US20YT=RR rose nearly 11 bps to their highest in more than a decade.
The theme this year for the annual gathering in Wyoming is "structural shifts in the global economy".
"Two things that may come across are: decades of ultra-low rates backed by ultra-low inflation may be over," said Vishnu Varathan, head of economics and strategy at Mizuho Bank in Singapore.
"And global policy-makers may prefer to maintain restrictive real rates for a while, thereby keeping risks from volatile inflation alive."
Bitcoin BTC=BTSP , which was battered to a two-month low last week as rising U.S. yields and China's slowing economy drove a wave of selling, nursed those losses at $26,129.
======================================================== Currency bid prices at 0147 GMTDescription RIC Last U.S. Close Pct Change YTD Pct High Bid Low Bid Previous Change Session Euro/Dollar EUR=EBS$1.0871 $1.0873 +0.00% +0.00% +1.0883 +1.0872 Dollar/Yen JPY=EBS145.3850 145.3300 +0.06% +0.00% +145.4250 +145.2550 Euro/Yen S> 158.05 158.03 +0.01% +0.00% +158.1500 +157.8000 Dollar/Swiss CHF=EBS0.8825 0.8828 -0.05% +0.00% +0.8825 +0.8814 Sterling/Dollar GBP=D31.2733 1.2736 +0.06% +0.00% +1.2750 +1.2735 Dollar/Canadian CAD=D31.3547 1.3551 -0.05% +0.00% +1.3555 +1.3540 Aussie/Dollar AUD=D30.6399 0.6405 -0.08% +0.00% +0.6418 +0.6395 NZ NZD=D3Dollar/Dollar 0.5910 0.5924 -0.16% +0.00% +0.5936 +0.5911 All spots FX=Tokyo spots AFX= Europe spots EFX= Volatilities FXVOL= Tokyo Forex market info from BOJ TKYFX
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