ForexLive Asian market wrap: HSBC China services PMI improves slightly

HSBC China services PMI 54.1, up from 53.3 last month HK PMI 50.3, down from 52.0 last month RBA quarterly monetary policy statement; forecasts for Australian economic growth and inflation downgraded as expected USD/CNY mid-rate 6.2721 Sharemarkets: Seoul and HK -0.7%, Sydney -0.5%, Shanghai flat Gold $1637/oz; Oil $102.50/bbl Fairly quiet session again in Asia, with Tokyo closed again due to Golden week which thankfully finishes today. Once again there has been a bit of interest in the NZD, which fell by over 1% yesterday and saw some early profit taking in Asia. AUD/NZD and EUR/NZD both fell in early trade but flows were relatively small and the Kiwi ends the session unchanged. AUD/USD opened at 1.0265, tried to rally first up but was rebuffed by reported macro-fund sell orders above 1.0280 as well as some AUD/NZD selling. AUD/USD fell on the RBA headlines to its session lows near 1.0250 but with little interest being shown, it bounced straight back. The HSBC services PMI should have encouraged some AUD buying but its too close to the weekend and everyone had already given up. Ranges: 1.0248/78 EUR/USD followed the lead of the AUD in a tight 20 pip range, 1.3142/62, and the only flows of note were some early EUR/NZD sales. USD/JPY traded a 15 pip range, affected only by cross flows. Range: 80.11/26 Cable 1.6177/93; EUR/CHF 1.2010/15