CNY appreciation speculation hits EUR

November 12, 2009 — Mitul Kotecha

The USD index is trading close to a 15-month low and direction remains firmly downwards as risk appetite continues to improve and the USD’s status as a funding currency remains unaltered.   Whether it’s a weak USD driving stocks higher or vice-versa, US stocks are currently trading at 13-month highs, maintaining the negative correlation with the USD index. 

One currency that has failed to take advantage of the weak USD over recent days is EUR/USD and its failure to make a sustainable break above 1.50 highlights that momentum in the currency is fading.  EUR/USD looks vulnerable on the downside in the short term, with resistance seen around 1.5050.  Speculation that China will resume CNY appreciation has taken some of the steam out of the EUR given that it implies less recycling of intervention flows into the currency.  

The speculation that China will allow a stronger CNY follows a significant change by China’s central bank, the PBOC to its stated FX policy. The Bank removed the statement  that it will keep the CNY “basically stable” and noted instead that foreign exchange policy would take into account “capital flows and major currency movements”.   

Although this does not mean the CNY will immediately strengthen it will add to speculation that China will allow some appreciation next year following a long stretch in which the CNY has effectively been stuck in a very tight range against the USD.   The timing of the change in rhetoric should come as little surprise as it coincides with greater international calls for a stronger CNY to help rebalance the global economy as well as an improvement in economic data domestically.  

Any change in stance on the CNY could be a significant factor in determining the direction for the EUR given that it not only implies less flows into EUR from China but also from other central banks in Asia which may take China’s cue and allow greater strengthening of their currencies versus USD.  Given that central banks in Asia had been intervening to prevent local currency strength and then recycling this USD buying into other currencies, especially EURs, the change in stance could play negatively for the EUR. 

Currencies are also a focus of the APEC meeting of finance ministers, with the draft statement agreeing that flexible exchange rates and interest rates are critical in obtaining balanced and sustainable growth.  This has interesting implications given the FX intervention by Asian central banks to prevent their respective currencies from strengthening and attention will focus squarely on China’s CNY policy.

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What goes up…

September 1, 2009 — Mitul Kotecha

…must come down. It was a soft end to August overall. Despite a 6.7% fall in Chinese stocks on the last day of the month, global equity markets for the most part registered gains over August. For example the S&P 500 registered a healthy 3.4% increase in August compared to close to a 15% drop in Chinese (Shanghai B) equities. The phrase, “the higher it goes, the harder it falls” looks appropriate in the case of Chinese stocks; at the time of writing, year-to-date the S&P 500 is up around 13% compared to a 68% gain for the Chinese stocks.

Looked at from another angle the S&P 500 is up an impressive 51% from its low in March 2009, whilst the Shanghai index is up a whopping 113% from its low in October 2008. Much of the selling in Chinese stocks as usual appears to be rumour based with talk of more lending curbs in China and a report that China’s state owned enterprises may terminate commodity contracts with foreign banks spurring the initial selling. The law of gravity suggests that Chinese stock may have further to fall.

The fact that the sharp sell off in Chinese stocks is having only a limited impact on other markets is an interesting development in itself. It suggests that investors in other markets and products are not getting too carried away with China stock watching. In particular, currencies appear calm despite the volatility in Chinese stocks and generally correlations between equity markets and currencies remain low according to my calculations (happy to provide correlation coefficients to anyone who is interested).

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Is the Asian FX rally losing steam?

June 5, 2009 — Mitul Kotecha

Asian currencies appear to have lost some of their upward momentum over recent days.  Although the outlook remains positive further out, they are likely to struggle to make further gains over coming weeks.  One the one hand strong inflows into Asian equity markets have given support to currencies but on the other hand, data releases reveal only a gradual economic recovery is taking place, with continued pressure on the trade front as seen in the weakness in recent export data in the region.  Even China has been cautious about the prospects of recovery in the country.   

Almost all currencies in Asia have recouped their losses against the US dollar so far this year, with the Indonesian rupiah the star performer, having strengthened by over 11% since the start of the year.  More recently the Indian rupee has taken up the mantle of best performer, strengthening sharply following the positive outcome of recent elections.  The rupee has strengthened by around 3.5% since the beginning of the year and its appreciation has accelerated post elections.   

Much of the gain in the rupee can be attributable to the $4.4 billion of inflows into local equity markets over the last few months, a far superior performance to last year when India registered persistent outflows. Notably in this respect, the Philippines peso is set to struggle as foreign flows into local equities lag far behind other countries in the region.  Inflows into Phililipines stocks have been just $226 million year-to-date as fiscal concerns weigh on foreign investor sentiment.   

South Korea has been the clear winner in terms of equity capital inflows in 2009, with over $6 billion of foreign money entering into the Korean stock market.  Elsewhere, Taiwan has benefited from the prospects of growing investment flows from China and in turn equity market inflows have risen to around $4.3 billion supported by news such as the recent report  that Taiwan will allow mainland Chinese investors to invest in 100 industries.  Equity inflows into these currencies are far stronger than over the same period in 2008, highlighting the massive shift in sentiment towards Asia and emerging markets in general.

Unsurprisingly stock markets in Asia have been highly correlated with regional currencies over recent months, with almost all currencies in Asia registering a strong directional relationship with their respective equity markets.  Recent strong gains in equities have boosted currencies but this relationship reveals the vulnerability of currencies in the region to any set back in equities, which I believe could come from a reassessment of the market’s bullish expectations for Asian recovery.  

Central banks in the region have been acting to prevent a further rapid strengthening in Asian currencies by intervening in FX markets but a turn in equity markets and/or risk appetite could do the job for them and result in a quick shift in sentiment away from regional currencies. The Indonesian rupiah remains one to watch in terms of further upside potential, supported by the Asian Development Bank’s $1bn loan to Indonesia.   The outlook for the Indian rupee also looks favourable as post election euphoria continues.  Nonetheless, the gains in these and other Asian currencies have been significant and rapid and I believe there is scope for a pull back or at least consolidation in the weeks ahead.

Posted in Asia, central banks, China, Currencies, Economics, Economy, equity markets, India, Indian election. Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment »
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