PBOC’s Ma: There is a big room for further RRR cuts

Dhwani Mehta FXStreet

Ma Jun, an external adviser to the People's Bank of China’s (PBOC) monetary policy committee (MPC), said that the central bank has a relatively big room for further Reserve Requirement Ratio (RRR) cuts and targeted RRR cuts.

He added that the PBOC can also ramp up open market operations (OMOs) if necessary.

This comes after the central bank unexpected left the Loan Prime Rate (LPR) rate unchanged this month, as the coronavirus situation improves in the country, with households and businesses returning to normalcy.

Market reaction

Markets are enjoying some signs of risk recovery amid positive Asian stocks, as the global stimulus measures to fight the virus outbreak seem to be playing out.

The rush for safety in the greenback is seen losing steam, as the US dollar index corrects sharply from three-year highs, dragging USD/JPY back below 110.00 alongside.

Author

Dhwani Mehta

FXStreet

Residing in Mumbai (India), Dhwani is a Senior Analyst and Manager of the Asian session at FXStreet. She has over 10 years of experience in analyzing and covering the global financial markets, with specialization in Forex and commodities markets.

EUR/USD struggles to hold above 1.1800 ahead of US data

EUR/USD finds it difficult to gather recovery momentum and retreats below 1.1800 in the second half of the day on Thursday. The US Dollar (USD) stays resilient against its peers after the hawkish surprise in FOMC Minutes, weighing on the pair ahead of the next batch of US data.

GBP/USD recovers above 1.3500 amid better mood

GBP/USD finds fresh demand and rises back above 1.3500 in the European session on Thursday. Improving risk sentiment and renewed US Dollar weakness are helping the pair recover ground ahead of mid-tier US data releases and Fedspeak.

Gold retreats from daily highs, trades below $5,000

Gold finds it difficult to stabilize above the $5,000 psychological mark on Thursday and trades slightly below this level in the early American session. Escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East help XAU/USD hold its ground, while the broad-based USD strength caps the pair's upside.

Injective token surges over 13% following the approval of the mainnet upgrade proposal

Injective price rallies over 13% on Thursday after the network confirmed the approval of its IIP-619 proposal. The green light for the mainnet upgrade has boosted traders’ sentiment, as the upgrade aims to scale Injective’s real-time Ethereum Virtual Machine architecture and enhance its capabilities to support next-generation payments. The technical outlook suggests further gains if INJ breaks above key resistance.

Hawkish Fed minutes and a market finding its footing

It was green across the board for US Stock market indexes at the close on Wednesday, with most S&P 500 names ending higher, adding 38 points (0.6%) to 6,881 overall. At the GICS sector level, energy led gains, followed by technology and consumer discretionary, while utilities and real estate posted the largest losses.