Macau Limits ATM Withdrawals

Asian markets were mixed this morning in Asian and Pacific Rim trade despite the ongoing post-election rally in US stocks. There is regional turmoil as South Korea’s president could be impeached.

In South Korea, the Kospi Composite Index fell half a percentage point as investors are waiting on the fate of the country’s sitting President Park Geun-hye who is facing a historic vote of impeachment by the country’s parliament. Park is embattled with an influence peddling scandal and investors are expecting the parliament to impeach. Some members of Park’s Saenuri Party are onboard to impeach as well. Even if the parliament votes to impeach, it could take up to 180 days to review in front of the Constitutional Court before new elections. This could mean more political uncertainty in the short term for the country.

As of 10:30 am HK time the Korean won was trading at 1.167.20 against the US Dollar. It closed at 1,161.3 the session before.

In China, the newspaper South China Post reported that Macau will be slashing the withdrawal limit for China UnionPay ATM card members. The withdrawal limit will be cut from 10,000 to 5,000 Macanese patacas ($625). This will go into effect midnight Saturday. This comes after a report that in one month alone, 10 billon patacas were made with UnionPay withdrawals.

In Europe, the European Central Bank surprised the financial markets on Thursday by announcing it was going to extend its current quantitative easing program until April 2017. However, the ECB was going to reduce the size of its bond purchases from €80 billion per month to €60 billion. The program was due to conclude in March 2017 and investors thought the central bank would extend the QE program until at least December 2017.

After the announcement, the euro came under pressure. The EUR/USD Forex market fell from a level near $1.08 to $1.059 this morning in Asian trade hours.