Forex Today: King Dollar held the head high, Antipodeans saved by China data, all eyes on BOE now

Forex market keeps being dominated by the King US Dollar (USD) during Thursday’s Asian session as traders searched solace in the Federal Reserve’s not-so-dovish rate-cut. The US Federal Reserve announced its first rate cut, of 0.25%, since 2008 financial crisis but poured cold water on the face of policy bears as the Chairman Jerome Powell turned down the prospects of the start of the broad easing cycle.

With this, the greenback surged across the board, even ignoring the US President Trump’s early-day criticism of the Fed’s policy. The resultant flow took the funds off from Asian stocks while also fuelling the US Treasury yields.

EUR/USD, GBP/USD and AUD/USD dropped to fresh multi-month lows ahead of China’s Caixin Manufacturing PMI that helped the Aussie to stage a bounce while NZD/USD and oil also trimmed some of the previous losses. China’s private manufacturing gauge rose past 49.6 forecast to 49.9 following yesterday’s pattern. Meanwhile, USD/JPY surged to 9-week high and Gold also visited a fortnight low despite political pessimism surrounding Iran and North Korea. Further to note is upbeat Indonesia Inflation data that couldn’t help the USD/IDR rise beyond 100-day moving average (DMA).

Main Topics in Asia

Asian shares extend declines amid USD surge as Fed poured cold water on bears

China July Caixin manufacturing PMI beats expectations by 0.4

Trump: Fed waited too long to correct the mistake

US’ Bolton: North Korea missile tess do not violate pledge by Kim

White House National Security Adviser Bolton: US will extend Iran nuclear waivers for 90 days

Key Focus Ahead

Global traders now brace for the Bank of England (BOE) monetary policy meeting that is up for publishing quarterly inflation report at 110:00 GMT. Although major market players anticipate the UK central bank to maintain a hawkish tone with no policy change, looming Brexit uncertainty might not allow the Carney and Company to avoid uttering chances of future rate cuts.

For the European session start, Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) data for the Eurozone and the UK can entertain traders ahead of the BOE. The manufacturing gauges are up for publishing at 08:00 and 08:30 GMT respectively wherein the regional index may remain unchanged at 46.4 but the British figure could soften to 47.7 from 48.0.

Furthermore, the US Manufacturing PMI data from Markit and ISM coupled with weekly jobless claims could make traders busy during the post-BOE trading hours.

EUR/USD hits 26-month low, risk reversals slide on put demand

The US Dollar (USD) remains solidly bid driving the One-month risk reversals on EUR/USD, a gauge of calls to puts on the common currency, fell to -0.412 in Asia, the lowest level since May 21.

GBP/USD drops to lowest since January 2017 ahead of BOE

GBP/USD slipped to a 31-month low of 1.21 in the Asian session, courtesy of broad-based US Dollar demand. Bank of England is unlikely to follow the Federal Reserve’s rate cut move.

BOE Super Thursday Preview: Time to abandon rosy assumptions? – Five scenarios for GBP/USD

The Bank of England is set to hold its rates but publish new projections on “Super Thursday.” The darkening clouds around the global economy and Brexit may cause a rethink.