Forex Today: Markets turn cautious heading into the weekened

Here is what you need to know on Friday, August 18:

Investors have adopted a cautious stance on the last trading day of the week following the latest headlines from China. The US Dollar Index was last seen consolidating weekly gains above 103.00, while US stock index futures were trading flat on the day. Eurostat will release revisions July inflation data and the US economic docket will not be offering any high-tier data releases ahead of the weekend.

Reuters reported that China’s second-large realtor, as well as the world's most heavily indebted property developer, Evergrande filed for protection from creditors in a US bankruptcy court on Thursday alongside Tianji Holdings. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index is down nearly 2% on Friday and the Shanghai Composite Index is losing 0.8%. AUD/USD and NZD/USD pairs came under modest bearish pressure on this development and edged lower during the Asian trading hours before staging an upward correction in the European morning. As of writing, AUD/USD was virtually unchanged on the day at around 0.6400 and NZD/USD was posting small daily gains at 0.5930.

The data from Japan showed that the National Consumer Price Index rose 3.3% on a yearly basis in July, matching the June increase. This reading came in higher than the market expectation of 2.5%. The Core CPI rose 4.3% in the same period, compared to 4.2% in June. After snapping an 8-day winning streak and closing in negative territory on Thursday, USD/JPY continues to push lower and trades below 145.50 early Friday.

Retail Sales in the UK declined 1.2% on a monthly basis in July, the UK's Office for National Statistics reported. This print followed the 0.6% recorded in June and came in worse than the market expectation for a 0.5% contraction. GBP/USD lost its traction and started to decline toward 1.2700 following this release.

EUR/USD recovered above 1.0900 in the early American session on Thursday but failed to preserve its momentum. With Wall Street's main indexes extending the weekly slide, the USD gathered strength later in the day and dragged the pair back below 1.0900. Early Friday, the pair consolidates its losses below 1.0900.

Gold price dropped to its weakest level since March at $1,884 late Thursday, pressured by rising US Treasury bond yields. XAU/USD stages a modest rebound but trades below $1,900. Meanwhile, the benchmark 10-year US Treasury bond yield is down more than 1% on the day at around 4.2% after touching its strongest level since October at 4.32%.

Bitcoin lost more than 7% on Thursday and registered its biggest one-day decline of the year. BTC/USD stays on the back foot and trades near $26,500 early Friday. 

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