- RBNZ left rates unchanged and a poll of leading economists expect them to stay on hold until mid-year at least
- Japan’s December trade surplus much higher than expected at JPY728 billion
- UK economy saw weak jobs growth in retail industry in Q4: BRC
- Hometrack say UK house prices fell for 7th consecutive month
- British vice-PM says spending cuts having chilling effect
- Australian PM announces new tax to help pay for flood damage
- Shanghai stockmarket +1%, Tokyo +0.8%, HK and Seoul +0.3%
- Gold $1347/oz
It has been an exceedingly quiet trading session with most of the majors hardly moving for the last 4 hours.
The AUD/USD took a quick 40 pip dip, falling from .9985 to .9945 after the Australian PM announced the new tax to pay for flood damage. Some of the other majors fell briefly in sympathy but quickly recovered. Ranges: AUD/USD .9938/1.0001
EUR/USD has traded in a 25 pip range which tells the whole story. Option protection is still touted at 1.3725 but dealers say that interest was very low despite the proximity to that level. Ranges: EUR/USD 1.3691/1.3716, EUR/CHF 1.2908/35
Cable flew higher right on the NY close as trailing stops above 1.5925 were triggered, thus closing the gap which was created after Tuesday’s GDP. Sterling has not been affected by the poor economic data which came out this morning, although London might pay more attention to it. Ranges: Cable 1.5902/37, EUR/GBP .8604/14
USD/JPY ignored, as usual, the much better-than-expected trade data and traded in it’s usual Asian range of 25 pips. Range: 82.03/27, EUR/JPY 112.46/73
