Forex news from the European morning session 19 January 2015
News:
- ECB’s Nowotny says policy options are limited
- Former ECB member Smaghi says they must make a decision on QE even if it’s not unanimous
- Japan LDP’s Yamamoto says no further BOJ easing required this year
- Bundesbank sees upside risk to growth as a result of oil price falls
- German IG Metall union says low inflation is no reason to lower wage demands
- EU’s Juncker says any new greek govt will have to respect past commitments
- IMF’s Lagarde warns on consequences for Greece credibility if debt is restructured
- Italy to grow weakly after exiting recession in Q1 2015
- Downward pressure on economy this year is significant says Chinese premier
- China to enhance protection for foreign investors
- Item Club think-tank raises UK GDP forecast in 2015 to +2.9%
- Fear of deflation could hold back growth says Hollande
- Bundesbank ships more gold back home
- Goldman Sachs forecasts signs of life in Europe on oil price drop
- Hold the front page – The rich vs poor divide is increasing
Data:
- Eurozone current account balance Nov sa EUR +18.1bln vs +19.5bln prev
- Eurozone construction output Nov mm -0.1% vs +1.1% prev
- Swiss producer import prices Dec mm -0.4% vs -0.7% prev
- PBOC foreign exchange reserves end-Nov USD 3.847trln
- SNB sight deposits rise to CHF 339.6 bln w/e 16 Jan vs 329.1 prev
- Shanghai Composite Index closes down 7.7% at 3,116.35
- Nikkei 225 closes up +0.89% at 17,014.29
It’s been a lively enough session which has seen the euro mainly in demand but no real USD trend
EURUSD opened up at 1.1555 and had a run to 1.1587 on some early profit taking with both EURJPY and EURGBP rallying and all led by a stabilising EURCHFwhich found some early support below 1.0000. Cue a euro dip lower again only to stage another move higher as investment flow data allayed a few fears and we saw EURUSD take out 1.1600 offers to post 1.1629 , EURGBP 0.7667 and EURJPY 136.20 before capping again
EURCHF though has chewed its way higher to post 1.0148 before finding a few sellers and USDCHF posted highs of 0.8751 from 0.8600 support before also retreating
USDJPY found some early demand below 117.00 as the Nikkei staged a late rally and we’ve since climbed back up to 117.41 as yen pairs find support generally
The USD picture has been mixed though with cross-plays the main feature and we’ve seen GBPUSD up to 1.5179 after early session lows of 1.5129 which has helped cap EURGBP rallies too. GBPCHF posted 1.3270 only to slip back as CHF pairs generally topped out.
AUDUSD has been stuck in a 0.8200-25 range with NZDUSD similarly tight in 0.7785-0.7800 while USDCAD has also traded within 1.1945-95 with cross-plays having an influence on these pairs too
US hols today so we shall get thinner as the day progresses and it remains to be seen whether traders have any appettite to take it on.