Morning wrap (21.02.2023)

• Indices from Asia-Pacific traded mixed today. Nikkei and S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.2% each, Kospi and Nifty 50 gained 0.1% while indices from China traded mostly lower

• DAX futures point to a more or less flat opening of the European cash session today

• RBA minutes showed that Australian central bankers see inflation as more broad and persistent than expected. The document also strongly hinted that rate hike pause at meeting in February was not an option

• New Zealand Treasury said in a statement that reconstruction after a cyclone hit will be a boost to the New Zealand economy. Treasury noted, however, that boost to the demand will increase inflationary pressures in the economy and may cause RBNZ to hold rates at higher levels for longer

• BoJ Governor Kuroda expects wage growth in the Japanese economy to accelerate as labor market gets tighter

• Australian manufacturing PMI index ticked higher in February, from 50.0 to 50.1. Services index moved from 48.6 to 49.2

• Japanese manufacturing PMI dropped from 48.9 to 47.4 in February (exp. 49.2)

• Cryptocurrencies are trading mixed with major coins posting decent gains. Bitcoin trades 1% higher, Ethereum gains 0.6% and Dogecoin moves 0.4% higher

• Energy commodities trade mixed - Brent drops 0.6%, WTI trades 0.9% lower and US natural gas prices increased 0.3%

• Precious metals pull back as USD strengthens - gold trades 0.2% lower, silver drops 0.5% and platinum declines 0.7%

• USD and GBP are the best performing major currencies while NZD and AUD lag the most

In spite of a rather hawkish RBA minutes release, Australian dollar is pulling back today. AUDUSD is one of the worst performing major FX pairs as USD is on the rise. AUDUSD made an attempt at breaking back above a price zone marked with 50-session moving average (green line) and 50% retracement of the downward move launched in April 2022 but failed and a pullback was launched. Source: xStation5