- G20 speculation leads USD broadly lower
- NZD leads way higher after excellent current account data
- Reports that China will buy the 400 tonnes of gold which IMF has said it will sell
- UK PM Brown reiterates that support is there for new global economic framework
Most traders had expected another quiet day with Japan again closed but there have been enough reports and rumours, especially in the morning, to keep the market on its toes.
The NZD/USD was the big mover early in the session and this encouraged short covering in the other majors. The Kiwi traded quietly around .7065 before the current account numbers but it spiked quickly higher, first to 85 and then very swiftly to .7151. This move led to short covering in the other major pairings, although this was relatively slow to begin with. Once the NZD/USD broke above last weeks high at .7158, this led to stops in the AUD/USD above .8685 being triggered, which in turn led to short covering in the EUR/USD and the cable. There has been little or no backing off from any of the major pairings and heavy stops above 1.4770 might come into play in the EUR/USD later today.
USD/JPY fell down to last nights break-up level at 91.70 and the expected support did in fact materialise. That said, stops are said to be building now below 91.50.
Ranges: EUR/USD 1.4675/1.4721; cable 1.6208/57; USD/JPY 91.64/92.06; AUD/USD .8625/.8701.
Markets: Regional bourses all gained by between 0.25/0.5%. Gold rose from $1004 to $1008 on the back of the Chinese report mentioned above.
