SINGAPORE: The yen languished near its weakest level in nine months on Wednesday and kept traders on alert for any signs of intervention, while mounting concerns over China’s sputtering economy and gloomy outlook soured the mood in Asia.
The offshore yuan struggled to break away from a nine-month low hit in the previous session, having slid to that level after a slew of Chinese data on Tuesday undershot forecasts, and prompted Beijing to deliver unexpected cuts to its key policy rates.
It was last little changed at 7.3240 per dollar.
The China gloom saw the Australian and New Zealand dollars, often used as liquid proxies for the yuan, tumbling to their lowest levels since November in early Asia trade.
The Aussie bottomed at $0.6440, while the kiwi slid to a low of $0.5939, ahead of a rate decision by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand later on Wednesday.
“The People’s Bank of China has led the way in delivering what little easing has materialised thus far, but much more needs to be done,” said Aninda Mitra, head of Asia macro and investment strategy at BNY Mellon Investment Management.
“Pressure is now piling up on policymakers to act sooner, and in a bigger way. The weakening trend in Chinese activity is not entirely unexpected. But surprises to the downside, even amidst a downbeat consensus, places the onus on policy makers to walk the talk.”
Elsewhere, a sliding yen also kept traders on the lookout for any intervention from Japan, with the currency having crossed the closely-watched 145 per dollar level for four sessions now, a zone which triggered heavy dollar selling by Japanese authorities in September and October of last year.
Policymakers have not been as vociferous as they have been last year in their rhetoric against defending a weakening yen, with Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki saying on Tuesday that authorities are not targeting absolute currency levels for intervention.
“If we get up towards 150, I think it becomes increasingly likely (for an intervention),” said Ray Attrill, head of FX strategy at National Australia Bank.
“But where we are at the moment, I think the jawboning will continue but I’m not convinced that we’ll see intervention.”
In the broader currency market, the dollar was on the front foot after US retail sales surpassed expectations in July, underscoring the economic resilience and strengthening the case for the Federal Reserve to keep rates higher for longer.
That sent the benchmark 10-year US Treasury yield jumping to its highest since October at 4.2740% on Tuesday.
It last stood at 4.2110%.
The two-year Treasury yield similarly rose to an over one-month peak of 5.0240% in the previous session and was last at 4.9437%.
The greenback predictably rode Treasury yields higher, with the dollar index ekeing out a slight gain to 103.22.
The euro was little changed at $1.0902, while sterling dipped 0.05% to $1.2696, ahead of UK inflation data due later on Wednesday.