Forex news and trading headlines 20 December 2016
News:
- BOJ's Kuroda says they will debate weak yen impact at next outlook report
- More from Kuroda: Current yen level not surprising
- More from Kuroda (2): Inappropriate for me to comment on currencies
- More from Kuroda (3): Not appropriate to reduce ETF purchases at the moment
- USDJPY to 130 and EURUSD to parity - A familiar cry from Morgan Stanley
- USDJPY pops 118.00 as dip demand provides solid support
- BOE's McCafferty: UK CPI will rise quite sharply
- Spain's de Guindos tips Q4 GDP at 0.7%-0.8%
- Germany's Merkel says they must assume Berlin deaths were due to a terrorist attack
- EURUSD drops back through 1.0400 as USD demand prevails
- EURUSD is looking precarious as it hovers around the days lows
- Option expiries for the 10 am NY cut today 20 Dec
- Nikkei 225 closes up +0.53% at 19,494.52
Data:
- December 2016 UK CBI distributive trade sales 35 vs 20 exp
- Eurozone current account Oct SA EUR +28.4bln vs +27.7bln prev
- Germany PPI Nov mm +0.3% vs +0.1% exp
- Switzerland trade balance Nov CHF +3.64bln vs +3.56bln exp
- Japan nationwide department store sales Nov yy -2.4% vs -3.9% prev
Ok, not the snappiest of headers but it's been that kind of session. Not quite one thing or the other.
USDJPY has once again led the way but it's been as much about yen-pairs playing out too. USDJPY found early support below 117.50 and set the tone by nudging its way up to test 118.00 before finally breaking through to post 118.24 before running out of steam as yen demand, particularly v GBP sent it back into 117.80.
Fresh demand down there though and that's kept other pairs on the back foot as USD buyers prevail overall. GBPUSD has felt the additional GBPJPY sell-pressure to post 1-month lows of 1.2331 with EURUSD down to 1.0360.
USDCHF struggled to take out 1.0300 offers/res at first with EURCHF under pressure still but both have picked up some dip demand while USDCAD has been caught in the firmer USD/firmer oil/CADJPY crossfire and been contained in tight range again.
AUDUSD has fallen to 0.7224 with large option expiries at 0.7200 in play in addition to AUDJPY supply while NZDUSD has fallen to 0.6885 as I type with expiries of its own at 0.6900 also in play with the latest GDT auction results due soon.
Oil has been mostly on the rise and equities firmer too after a wobbly/uncertain start.
