Europe Summary and Highlights 21 March

European morning session

A quiet European morning saw gains for the JPY, CHF and scandis, but little movement elsewhere. USD/JPY fell 30 pips to 149.25, EUR/CHF fell 20 pips to 0.9550, EUR/SEK fell 5 figures to 10.95 and EUR/NOK fell 3 figures to 11.42. SEK gains were helped by a report that the Swedish government will increase spending by 5.8 billion crowns ($573 million) this year to boost the economy, with the bulk of the money spent on supporting the construction sector. Otherwise, mildly negative risks sentiment benefited the JPY and CHF.

Asia session

After the placeholder BoJ meeting on Wednesday, we have another elevated National CPI on Friday. Headline came in at 3.7%, down from January but still much higher than average. While ex fresh food came in at 2.9% and ex fresh food & energy at 2.6% may suggest a portion of inflation is transitory, the underlying strength in CPI cannot be denied. USD/JPY is trading 0.49% higher as there has been no urgency from the latest tone of BoJ officials.

Headlines are scarce on Friday's Asia session and we are seeing a more balanced start in the equity space until Asia noon, when we sell a wave of sell off in the Chinese and Hong Kong equity market. U.S. equities are faring better and USD is trading broadly higher against major. U.S. Treasury yields are also higher across the curve. AUD/USD is down 0.23% to 0.6288, NZD/USD is down 0.15% to 0.5749 while USD/CAD rose 0.07%. Else, EUR/USD is down 0.17% and GBP/USD is down 0.24%.