Europe Summary and Highlights 21 July
The USD was generally softer through the European morning, with the JPY leading the way.
European morning session
The USD was generally softer through the European morning, with the JPY leading the way. USD/JPY dropped 50 pips to 147.90, while EUR/USD gained 15 pips to 1.1645. GBP gained a little ground against the EUR, with EUR/GBP dropping 10 pips to 0.8655. NOK underperformed, with EUR/NOK up 6 figures to 11.88.
There was little news of any note, but European and US bond yields were generally lower, supporting JPY gains, while equity markets were mixed.
Asia session
Japan's LDP loses majority in the Upper house after the election over the weekend. The LDP's coalition with Komeito are two seats short of a majority and they will likely be given a hard time to seek co-operation with other smaller parties. The Democratic Party for the People made most gains from 9 to 22 seats and far right Sanseito will hold 15 seats. No doubt PM Ishiba will be having a difficult time against party pressure to resign and tight timeline to make a trade deal with the U.S.. USD/JPY opened almost a figure lower than Friday's close at 147.86 but have quickly recouped most losses to trade at 148.28, 0.34% lower than Friday.
The Q2 New Zealand CPI has edged higher from Q1 but lower than expected at 0.5% q/q and 2.7% y/y. The higher CPI was previewed by RBNZ in their last meeting and the lower than estimate figure seems to support market anticipation of another cut soon. It took the legs out of Kiwi and see NZD/USD down 0.09% at 0.5955 with a session low at 0.5938. AUD/USD is trading 0.08% higher with regional and U.S. three major equity indexes mostly in the green. Else, USD/CAD is down 0.03% while GBP/USD is up 0.09% and EUR/USD is up 0.06%.