The forex trading headlines from the European morning session
- RBA cuts interest rate by 0.25% to record low of 2.75%
- RBA governor Stevens cites weaker inflation as the factor allowing cut and suggests further easing possible
- German industrial orders march m/m +2.2% vs -0.5% exp +2.2% prev revised down from +2.3%
- French industrial output march -0.9% vs -0.3% exp +0.8% prev
- French trade balance march EUR-4.7bln vs -5.6 bln prev
- French budget deficit march y/y EUR- 31.026 bln vs -27.1 bln prev
- French fin min says govt reforms on budget deficit cuts wont be slowing down
- EU’s Dijsselbloem says they must respect bank deposit guarantees
- Swiss unemployment april unadjusted 3.1-vs-3.1-exp 3.2% prev. adj 3.1% vs 3.1% prev
- Swiss consumer sentiment Q2 -5 vs -6 prev
- Nikkei 225 closes +3.55% at 14,180.24. highest since june 2008
- UK PM Cameron barred from visiting China after hosting the Dalai Lama last year
- SNB forex reserves april CHF 43.6 bln vs 438.3 prev
A lively session that kicked off early with the RBA cutting interest rates by 0.25% to a record low 2.75% against many economists’ forecasts but not our Eamonn who correctly called the cut. AUDUSD fell from 1.0240 to 1.0190 then ran into asian sovereign buyers at 1.0180 before rallying to 1.0200 only to fall back to 1.0165 ahead of large buying interest at 1.0150.
And then it was the turn of the swiss franc to take a little tumble as reports drifted through of the BIS and swiss names buying EURUSD, adding to the talk of option contracts being bought at 1.23 and 1.25 for 1 week to 1 month. Cue EURCHF climbing to 1.2337 triggering stop-loss buying along the way with USDCHF racing to highs of 0.9437 before falling back to 0.9385.
Much better than expected German industrial orders also gave the Euro a good excuse to trade higher and upon the release EURUSD jumped from 1.3075 to 1.3100 and then higher again to 1.3133. EURGBP finally took out the sell orders at 0.8450 but EURJPY is still shy of the strong sell interest at 130.50.
USDJPY has look underpinned around 99.00 again but yet to seriously challenge the strong sell interest at 99.50 and above, while cable has been a non-event.
The Loonie has had a good morning with USDCAD falling sharply to test barrier option support 1.0025. Canadian names being cited as prime movers of the latest sell -off.
All delicately poised for the afternoon session.
