Forex news from the European trading session - 6 September 2021
Headlines:
- Eurozone September Sentix investor confidence 19.6 vs 19.7 expected
- UK August construction PMI 55.2 vs 58.7 prior
- Oil struggles to start the week as Saudi slashes prices for Asian buyers
- SNB total sight deposits w.e. 3 September CHF 714.9 bn vs CHF 715.2 bn prior
- Germany August construction PMI 44.6 vs 47.1 prior
- Germany July factory orders +3.4% vs -1.0% m/m expected
- China's major state-owned banks reportedly seen buying US dollars late last week
- NZ PM Ardern: Lockdown to be eased in all regions outside of Auckland
- Reminder: It is a long weekend in North America
Markets:
- USD leads, AUD lags on the day
- European equities higher
- Gold down 0.1% to $1,823.90
- WTI down 0.5% to $68.96
- Bitcoin up 2.7% to $51,472
With North American markets closed in observance of Labor Day, the long weekend mood also descended in Europe as things were relatively quiet to start the week.
Equities continue to breathe easy after the disappointing US non-farm payrolls on Friday, as European indices marched forward with decent gains today.
In FX, there is just a light pullback in the dollar as it recoups some losses from the end of last week. EUR/USD kept below 1.1900 on Friday and tracked a little lower from 1.1870 to 1.1855 during the session.
USD/JPY kept steadier around 109.75-85 for the most part while GBP/USD eased slightly from 1.3845 to 1.3832 and is keeping around 1.3840 currently.
The aussie and kiwi are the laggards, pulled lower after their substantial gains last week. That said, it is just a mild hiccup as the upside momentum is still very much intact as AUD/USD fell from 0.7440 to 0.7427 and is now back to 0.7440 again (still down 0.2%).
Likewise, NZD/USD fell from 0.7145 to 0.7129 only to claw back the losses to 0.7145 but still sitting slightly lower on the day as well.
There will be much more action to follow later in the week with key central bank meetings (RBA, BOC, ECB) in focus so stay tuned for that.
