Europe Summary and Highlights 4 September
The USD was generally marginally firmer through the European morning, gaining around 0.1% against the EUR, JPY and AUD. GBP outperformed, rising 10 pips against the USD.
European morning session
The USD was generally marginally firmer through the European morning, gaining around 0.1% against the EUR, JPY and AUD. GBP outperformed, rising 10 pips against the USD. The CHF initially fell back after slightly softer than expected August CPI data, which showed a 0.1% decline m/m, but in the end just kept pace with the EUR. EUR/SEK rose a couple of figures to 11.01 even though the Swedish CPI data showed the targeted CPIF measure rise more than expected to 3.3% y/y.
Other data included Eurozone retail sales, which was slightly lower than expected at -0.5% m/m, and UK construction PMI, which rose slightly more than expected to 45.5.
Asia session
Bloomberg reported that China weighs curbs on stock speculation as they would like to focus on steady gains. Regional equities are taking a beating as that is the nature of Chinese equity market. AUD/USD is trading 0.28% lower at 0.6525, NZD/USD is trading 0.22% lower at 0.5866 while USD/CAD rises 0.12%.
There has been reports that Japanese PM Ishiba may face fresh challenges, a remnant of the loss in previous election. It sparks speculation of policy uncertainty as the opposing party seems to be favoring more fiscal spending. USD/JPY is trading 0.14% higher at 148.23. Else, EUR/USD is up 0.09% and GBP/USD is up 0.12%.