- Oil price steady above $97/bbl after late slide in NY
- UK consumer confidence improves slightly, but still very low
- Fall in Japan’s CPI seems to be slowing
- Fed’s Bullard: May need to curtail buying of bonds
- Regional stocks gain up to 1%
- Gold steady at $1405
Fairly quiet session in Asia as the recent volatility in the oil price subsided somewhat.
EUR/USD opened at 1.3800 and has eked out a 40 pip gain in quite unspectacular fashion. Early buying in EUR/JPY and EUR/GBP certainly helped. Reports of ‘good names’ on the offer at 1.3850 helped subdue any over-zealous bullish momentum. Ranges: EUR/USD 1.3795/1.3837, EUR/CHF 1.2758/96
The AUD/USD has again been supported by a wide variety of buyers and the spectre of reportedly large stops above 1.0160 has also dissuaded intraday selling. Ranges: 1.0081/1.0136
USD/JPY has oscillated with cross flows in an 81.79/82.05 range
USD/CHF has been much quieter than yesterday, .9239/65.
Cable has traded 1.6118/58 and EUR/GBP has fallen back after an early session push higher to close in the middle of an .8544/77 range.
