European Summary and Highlights 15 Apr

European morning session

A quiet European morning session saw both EURUSD and USD/JPY move marginally higher, so that EUR/JPY rose around 20 pips to 164. GBP made some gains, with GBP/USD rising around 30 pips to 1.2490, while the NOK fell, with EUR/NOK rising 5 figures to 11.63. The CAD and CHF also made small gains. The moves had no obvious trigger, but markets generally had a mild risk positive tone, with yields and equities a little higher and the oil price a little lower, suggesting reduced tension over the Middle East after the Iranian attack on Israel was effectively neutralised.

Asia session

Over the weekend, Iran's attack on Israel materialized with hundreds of missiles and drones but most have been intercepted. With Iran's official comment "it can be concluded", market seems to be on the calm side as the assault could have been much worse. The U.S. also "leaked" they do not support an Israel retaliation, which may reduce the risk for an escalation. USD outbids the JPY in times like this with a level of safety while enjoying a higher yield. Japan finance minister Suzuki continues with his jawboning and its fruitless result may see actual intervention coming in shortly, given the pace of weakness in JPY. USD/JPY reached another new high at 153.82 after closing the opening gap, up 0.41% for the day with U.S. Treasury Yields outpacing JGB yields.

The new sanction from US and UK banning deliveries of any Russian Aluminum and Nickel produced after midnight on Friday, has driven the corresponding metal higher. Regional equities are performing individually with Chinese equities outperforming Hong Kong and Japan with China keeping MLF rate unchanged.  The Aussie benefited from all of these and led rivals against the USD to trade 0.35% higher at 0.6485, NZD/USD is is 0.17% higher at 0.5946 while USD/CAD slipped 0.09%. Else, EUR/USD is down 0.13% and GBP/USD is up 0.1%.