- New Zealand Q3 GDP +0.8% vs +0.6% exp but downward revisions show y/y growth worse than expected
- PBOC survey shows consumer inflation expectations falling, businesses pessimistic
- Australian Melbourne Institute Household Financial Conditions Index falls 11.6% in December
- Several large Chinese cities will continue home ownership restrictions in 2012 but they may be fine tuned
- Chinese copper imports surged in November
- BOJ’s Shirakawa: Japan, other econs having difficulties boosting growth with monetary easing; Japan should not try to lift prices without boosting growth
- JPY leads, NZD and AUD lag
It was a quiet session after some early slumps in the antipodeans. The range in EUR/USD was 19 pips from 1.3033 to 1.3052 with the entire breadth occurring in the first hour of trading.
NZD initially jumped on the higher headline reading from the GDP report but it quickly pulled back and turned lower as the details of the report showed sharp downward revisions and unsustainable gains from inventory builds.
Techs continue to eye EUR/AUD after yesterday’s breakdown to a record low. The pair drifted higher on the early round of AUD selling but stopped well short of the recent highs and began to slip.
Gold got some attention due to a slow, steady $7 slide that has pushed the precious metal to $1608, just a couple dollars above the US lows.
