Renminbi Strengthens, Yen Hits 38-Year Low, Aussie Dollar Resilient

Here’s this week’s overview of the Renminbi, Japanese Yen, and Australian Dollar:

Renminbi

In China, we saw the Renminbi fall to 7.267 against USD last week. A private survey highlighted robust growth in the manufacturing sector for June, reaching a three-year peak and surpassing expectations, signaling positive momentum in industrial activity.

Japanese Yen

The Japanese Yen ended the week trading at 160.9 per dollar, having hit a 38-year low of 161.28 during the week. Downward revision in Japan’s first quarter GDP kept the currency under pressure. A second revision showed that Japan’s economy contracted at an annualised rate of 2.9% Q1, a sharper downturn from a previous reading of 1.8% as a revision of public works spending turned much weaker.

Australian Dollar

The Australian dollar held its recent advance to trade at 0.666 against the US Dollar, hovering close to two-week highs as the greenback pulled back on data showing US inflation cooled in May. Domestically, revised data showed that Australia’s June manufacturing activity contracted the most since May 2020 amid a sharp decline in new orders.