As ever, month-end proved choppy and unpredictable. Flows overshadowed fundamentals for most of the US session with sales of EUR/USD a major feature at the London fixing and for the several hours following the fixing. About 30 prior to the 16:00 Fix, the selling began in earnest and EUR/USD began its slide from the 1.5045 area to a low at 1.4975. Demand was found in that region on three pushes lower and we recovered in afternoon trade as news that Dubai World is seeking to renegotiate about half its debts was taken as a positive by the market. We rebounded toward 1.5020 before stalling.

GBP/USD was sold heavily in late London trade, extending GBP weakness that had been in place for much of the session. Chinese buying in the 1.6400/10 slowed the decline but we ultimately dipped to 1.6385 before rebounding to 1.6445 late.

AUD/USD perked up late in the session, rising ahead of the RBA meeting and a slightly better risk appetite among early Asian traders who are trading on a December P&L. New Yorkers are trading in November, and keeping a low profile ahead of month-end. AUD ends close to US session highs, now at 0.9155.

USD/CAD slipped late as well, with oil and gold showing late strength. We trade at 1.0553 late.

USD/JPY rallied to 86.75 before heavy EUR/JPY selling for the 16:00 GMT fixing pushed prices as low as 86.00. We spent the afternoon recovering and end near 86.45. Traders await another barrage of Japanese verbal intervention on Tuesday. Perhaps the government will have its story straight this time…