European Summary and Highlights 12 Apr
The EUR fell back across the board through the European morning, with EUR/USD losing half a figure to trade at new lows for the year below 1.0660.
European morning session
The EUR fell back across the board through the European morning, with EUR/USD losing half a figure to trade at new lows for the year below 1.0660. There was no obvious cause of EUR weakness, but EUR yields were lower as markets reassessed yesterday’s ECB and once again priced in a June ECB cut as a near 80% chance. The USD was also generally firmer elsewhere, with USD/JPY gaining 10 pips to 153.30, after reaching a new 34 year high at 153.38, and GBP/USD dropping 40 pips to trade below 1.25, also a new low for the year.
The SEK was the weakest currency on the day, with EUR/SEK gaining a couple of figures after weaker than expected Swedish CPI data for March, with the core rate falling to 2.2% from 2.5% in February. GBP gains against the EUR were supported by stronger than expected UK GDP data. The February GDP rise of 0.1% was as expected, but January was revised up to 0.3% and the 3m/3m trend rose to 0.2%, the highest since October. EUR/GBP was down 15 pips to 0.8530.
Asia session
USD/JPY continues to hover above 153 figure, thanks to persistent USD strength and the weakness in Suzuki's rhetoric. On Friday's Asia session, Suzuki did another round of jawboning, "won't rule out any steps to respond to disorderly FX moves" and suggest there is a chance such intervention would be discussed in G20 meeting next week. Both the U.S. Treasury and JGB yields fell and see USD/JPY slipping 0.04% lower at 153.2.
Risk sentiment is mostly calmer with HSI close to closing the opening gap higher. AUD/USD tread lower to 0.6530 by 0.1% while NZD/USD up 0.02% at 0.5997 and USD/CAD rose 0.12% to 1.3704 as oil retrace earlier gains. Else, EUR/USD is down 0.12% and GBP/USD is down 0.09%.