European Summary and Highlights 14 Mar
The USD was slightly softer through the European morning session, losing ground to most currencies except the EUR, CHF and SEK, which were all essentially steady against the USD.
European morning session
The USD was slightly softer through the European morning session, losing ground to most currencies except the EUR, CHF and SEK, which were all essentially steady against the USD. The JPY, AUD, CAD and GBP all made modest gains, of 0.1-0.2%.
There was little news of note, with Swedish February CPI the only data of interest. This was weaker than expected, coming in at 4.5% headline, 2.5% core, and the SEK fell back marginally in response, but was essentially back to opening levels against the EUR by the end of the morning.
Asia session
Market participants' view on BoJ policy change continue to be caught between the March and April meeting. Nikkei reported that the BoJ will discuss ending negative interest rates in March's meeting with MUFG is forecasting the Bank of Japan to begin to tighten policy next week. Former BoJ official Hideo says once Bank abandons negative rate further moves will come very slowly, seems to be dampening market sentiment. USD/JPY continue to consolidate within Tuesday range and is trading 0.12% higher at 147.93.
U.S. Treasury Yields are higher across the curve and the equity space is broadly positive. Regional sentiment is soft with HSI down half a percent. AUD/USD dragged 0.08% lower at 0.6616, NZD/USD up 0.06% to 0.6160 while USD/CAD rose 0.03%. Else, EUR/USD and GBP/USD are down 0.05%