Safe Havens in the spotlight – JPY skyrockets as CHF plummets
By Thu, 16 Sep 2021

The Yen’s safe haven premium has been on the rise amid concerns above the Covid situation in Asia, China’s regulatory crackdown on tech stocks (the Hang Seng Tech Index is down by over 40% since its high in February), and the woes of Chinese property developer Evergrande is another concern, with pessimists viewing the latter as a possible ‘tip of the iceberg’.Regarding the latter, this is being viewed as a possible ‘tip of the iceberg’ by more pessimistic analysts who have had long-held concerns about the risks of a major debt crisis in China as a consequence of economic slowing and massively overleveraged property market.

USDJPY has remained heavy after posting a one-month low yesterday at 109.11. AUDJPY has also remained heavy, having drawn back in on Wednesday’s three-week low at 79.82, while EURJPY has printed a new three-week low. Share markets in Asia have continued to sputter, while stock markets in Europe and North America have fare better.

The Swiss Franc on the other side, proven insufficient to hold safe have flows as a dramatic decline of CHF has been seen against all majors. The sell off seen after Swiss Seco stated that recovery sees temporary loss of momentum. Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs said it has lowered its growth forecast (adjusted for sporting events) to 3.2% for this year, rising to 3.4% in 2022. Seco said “the economic recovery is set to continue as expected, though growth is initially less dynamic than forecast previously”. The SNB already signalled that negative rates remain necessary to keep the currency under control and today’s forecast revisions will add to the arguments for an unchanged policy announcement next week.

The aftermaths of SNB and as markets overestimating the risks to the global growth outlook and it seemed as though investors took that to heart, CHFJPY has been seen in an aggressive selling with the asset bottoming so far top 118.12 lows which implies to more than 4-month lows. However from a technical persective this move represents a decisive breakout of the 200-Day SMA, the 50% Fib. retracement from March to June upleg but also the retest of the 61.8% Fib. level. As soon as 200-day SMA broke we have seen lots of sell-stops being triggered, extending the assets to 118.12. As momentum indicators in the medium term are also suggesting that the negative bias increases,  next immediate Support level for the asset could be seen on Aprils low, i.e. 117.50. Sould selling forces strengthen below the latter, the 2021 low of 115.90 could next add some footing on the broader bearish outlook.

Alternatively, a turn back above the 119.50, i.e. 3-months Support now seen as nearby Resistance could brighten the short term view.

In brief, CHFJPY is facing an increasing bearish bias, where a bounce from current lows could just provide a near term correction for the agressing selling interest seen so far in September.

Meanwhile, selling pressures continued to drive Asian yields higher, with Aussie and NZ rates jumped 5 bps after much better than expected New Zealand GDP numbers and an unexpected decline in Australia’s jobless rate.

NZDCHF, H4

Kiwi has been seen rising against the widely weaker CHF, breaching the 0.6570 level, key resistance seen since May. The trend is similar to the movement of other pairs against the NZD, with a strong upward move since the end of August. The sideways move the past two weeks is now lookikng like a breath before asset’s next boost higher. As the asset retests today the confluence of 4-month reasistance and 61.8% Fib. level of the downleg seen from 0.6765 to 0.6235, a closure above this level anytime soon could strengthen buying pressure.

The continuation of the potitive medium term outlook is also being supported by Bollinger bands as the BB lines extend higher, while MACD lines and RSI is positively configured, with RSI ar 65 pointing northwards , while MACD lines rising as well. Hence on a decisive breakout of 61.8% Fib. level, attention could turn on the 0.6625-0.6645 area.

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Andria Pichidi

Market Analyst

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