Quiet session in Asia overnight. Main feature, if that’s the right term, was some improvement in the JPY. EUR/JPY sits at 131.25 having closed out in North America Tuesday around 131.80, while USD/JPY is down 97.45 from around 97.85.
The improvement is being put down to a few factors, namely year-end repatriation flows, safe haven flows as global equities take a turn for the worse after their recent good run, and to a lesser extent the better than expected Japanese trade data.
For today, European economic data scheduled for release is as follows:
08:30 GMT: Italian consumer confidence index s.a (Mar) expected 103.0
09:00 GMT: German IFO expectations (Mar) expected 81.5
09:00 GMT: German IFO business climate (Mar) expected 82.2
09:00 GMT: German IFO current assessment (Mar) expected 82.5
11.00 GMT: UK CBI distributive trades (Mar)
