Forex trading headlines from the European morning session 23 April
News:
- BOE MPC votes 9-0 to keep rates and QE on hold. More from the Minutes here
- ECB’s Hansson says QE would be operationally complex
- Russia’s Lavrov says they will retaliate if Russian citizens’ interests threatened
- Kuroda says BOJ is buying JGBs with aim of reaching 2% inflation soon as possible
- EU Commission says Greek debt is sustainable
- US trade rep Fromani says US/Japan trade talks at important cross roads
- BOJ says JGB and fx market volatility generally low
- Meiji Yasuda Life to keep increasing foreign bond holdings
Data:
- Eurozone Markit flash mftg PMI April 53.3 vs 53.0 exp
- German Markit flash mftg PMI April 54.2 vs 54.0 exp
- French Markit mftg flash PMI April 50.9 vs 51.9 exp
- UK PSNBR March m/m GBP +4.861 bln vs +8.785 bln exp
- UK CBI trends orders April -1 vs +7.0 exp
- Eurozone 2013 govt debt rises to a record 92.6% of GDP
- Nikkei closes up 1.09% at 14546.27
- Shanghai Composite Index closes down 0.26% at 2067.38
Every dog has its day and this morning we’ve seen various contenders for the top dog title in what has been a lively session.
The euro had an early wobble on weaker French PMI data with EURUSD falling to 1.3802 from 1.3827, EURGBP to 0.8212 from 0.8222 and EURJPY to 141.57 from 141.72 but we didn’t have to wait long before German and Eurozone data reversed the moves. EURUSD has been up to 1.3853 EURGBP 0.8245 and EURJPY touching 142.00
Then we had a dip on GBP exacerbated when the MPC Minutes showed some further dissent on the amount of slack in the UK plus softer inflation discussion which saw GBPUSD dip to 1.6800 from 1.6820 only to bounce back as markets digested the better govt borrowing data.
But that didn’t last long as the yen strutted its stuff and sent GBPJPY down to 171.51 with USDJPY already on its way down to 102.18 on lower Nikkei futures having spent much of the session previously around 102.55. GBPUSD has been down to 1.6782 testing support around recent lows but once again we’ve bounced back to 1.6800
EURJPY didn’t like the rarified air at 142.00 either and we’ve seen that pair drop back to session lows of 141.39, while EURCHF has capped again around 1.2225 and dropped to 1.2196 with USDCHF needing no excuse to have a run down to 0.8810 having once again failed above 0.8850.
AUDUSD has been pinned around 0.9285 after its post-CPI falls with NZDUSD similarly inert at 0.8590 while USDCAD has retreated from a run toward 1.1050 and now sits at 1.1026 with large option expiries higher up due later.
Lots going on then and there’s more to be had before the day is out
