European Summary and Highlights 13 May

European morning session

EUR/USD gained around 15 pips and USD/JPY gained around 10 pips in a quiet European morning session. AUD/USD also gained around 10 pips but GBP/USD was little changed. EUR/SEK gained 3 figures and NOK/SEK traded slightly above parity.

There was no data of any significance, with a decline in Swiss sight deposits on the week not seen as likely to indicate any FX action.

Asia session

USD/JPY almost touched 156 earlier in the session. But headlines crossed the wire that Japan's Kato (potential prime minister candidate ) says its natural that monetary policy will revert to positive interest rates and BoJ decreased purchase in the latest JGB purchase operation had driven JGB yields significantly higher and support JPY for a few tad. USD/JPY is trading 0.02% higher 155.77 after touching a session high of 155.96 and low at 155.49.

China's April CPI came in stronger at +0.3% y/y than +0.1% expected. While this is good news, PPI continues to be in negative territories and would remain a drag on CPI. There aslo some headlines from the Chinese front but none is as important as Biden's upcoming tariff to be imposed. Chinese equities opened lower and has barely closed the gap. AUD/USD is trading 0.13% lower at 0.6594, NZD/USD slipped more by 0.18% to 0.6008 while USD/CAD rose 0.09% as oil slip earlier with confusing but later clarified message from Iraq over the weekend on rota cut. Else, EUR/USD is up 0.03% and GBP/USD is up 0.01%.