Forex trading headlines from the European morning session 25 April
Ukraine:
- Russia’s Lavrov says they are sticking to Geneva accord on Ukraine
- Ukraine’s Yatseniuk says Russia wants to start World War III
- Putin says Russia should increase production of anti-missile systems
- Russia ready for “unbiased and constructive” talks with the US
News:
- SNB’s Jordan says CHF is still high
- Russian central bank hikes key interest rate to 7.5% from 7.0%
- Greece still needs EU help to stay afloat
- ECB’s Nouy says bank stress tests to be rigorous and independent
- South Korea’s Park says they and US will do all they can to contain North Korean ” provocations”
- Dai-Ichi Life says it won’t buy domestic bonds at current yield levels
- S&P affirms France long-term credit rating at AA
- Russia’s econ min says S&P downgrade was expected
- CBRC’s Wang says interest rate liberalization in crucial phase
Data:
- UK retail sales March m/m +0.1% vs -0.4% exp
- UK BBA mortgage approvals March 45,933 vs 47,196 prev
- Nikkei closes up 0.17% at 14,429.26
- Shanghai Composite Index closes down 1.0% at 2036.52
A morning full of talk and bluster on Ukraine which has seen the yen and swiss franc find a few buyers but its all been painfully slow except for a sharp rise and fall in the pound after better retail sales numbers.
A quiet start sprang into life when UK retails lifted GBPUSD from 1.6806 to 1.6833 in seconds only to drop back just as fast as sellers were quick to give it a slap encouraged by weaker mortgage data. We’ve since been back up to 1.6825 but mostly around 1.6815.
EURGBP fell from 0.8232 to test support at 0.8220 but equally found GBP sellers to push it back to 0.8230 and the story has been the same on other pound pairs.
USDCHF fell from 0.8820 t0 0.8803 on a combo of SNB comments and Ukraine unrest which also saw EURCHF dip to 1.2187 from 1.2198 before running into buyers.
USDJPY has been dipping all morning from 102.35 on lower Nikkei futures and Ukraine and has chewed through bids from 102.20 to post 102.04 lows. Similar pattern on yen pairs which have mostly been dragged lower too.
AUDUSD and NZDUSD have both crawled higher on the generally USD-negative mood with moves from 0.9265 to 0.9292 and 0.8258 to 0.8293 respectively having bounced off support at 0.9250 and 0.8550. USDCAD continues to have an extended Easter holiday but the loonie has weakened overall
I can’t recall the last time four days felt like a month.
