- New Zealand Reserve Bank keeps rates unchanged at 2.5%
- EU FinMins warned of new credit crunch
- ECB lends dollars to 2 EZ banks
- Italy facing possible Moody’s downgrade
- Regional stockmarkets +1% on average
- Gold quiet near $1817/oz; talk China buying just below present levels
Little bit of movement in the NZD around the time of the RBNZ announcement but once that died down we settled into another session dominated by EUR-negative headlines.
Plenty of press reports now have Greece defaulting sometime in the coming days, as soon as the details are worked out. The strong support given by Merkel and Sarkozy overnight did certainly provide support but they will need actions rather than words. Ranges: 1.3701/57
AUD/USD has again found plenty of selling interest in Asia. An early rally brought on by higher opens on equity markets ran straight into grateful sellers. Most of the selling is being attributed to real money funds who are bailing out of Asian assets en masse, as they fear a melt down could be brought on by a Greek and possible Portugese default. Ranges: 1.0200/90
Cable has been steady as EUR/GBP stalled at technical resistance near .8720. Ranges: 1.5729/74; EUR/GBP .8700/21
USD/JPY again failed to trouble the scorer in a tight 76.62/80 range. USD/CHF traded .8752/90 with talk of big Middle East Sovereign names now on the bid, starting in mid 86’s.