European Summary and Highlights 3 Jan
The USD was generally firmer through the European morning, rising across the board, with gains against the riskier currencies catching up with initial USD/JPY strength.
European morning session
The USD was generally firmer through the European morning, rising across the board, with gains against the riskier currencies catching up with initial USD/JPY strength.
News was relatively thin on the ground, with German unemployment the only significant data. This rose slightly less than expected at 5k on the month in December, but EUR/USD fell back soon after the data was released, losing around 30 pips in the second half of the morning after opening steady near 1.0955. USD/JPY had firmed up earlier in the session, and rose around half a figure through the morning from 142.10. There were similar declines in AUD/USD, which fell back from 0.6765 to 0.6740. GBP was more resilient, with GBP/USD only flaling modestly and EUR/GBP slipping back around 20 pips to 0.8650.
Asia session
Aftershock from the weekend earthquake hits Japan in the same area but the magnitude is lower and sees to do less damage this time. After a strong up day for USD/JPY, range in the FX market is so far subdued. U.S. and JGB yields are all flat with global sentiment tilting slightly negative. USD/JPY is barely up 0.02% at 142 figure after gaining a figure on Tuesday.
Kiwi is the best performer within majors against the greenback despite sour regional risk sentiment and soft commodity price. While it can be partially attributed to broad USD weakness, the magnitude of the rebound is also related to the pace of fall on Tuesday (Kiwi the biggest loser of 1.21%). NZD/USD is trading 0.38% higher at 0.6273, AUD/USD is also trading 0.11% higher at 0.6768 while USD/CAD rose 0.04% on weaker oil. Elsewhere, EUR/USD is up 0.19% and GBP/USD is up 0.16%.