Forex news and trading data for the European session 31 May 2016
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News:
- Japan's Lower House rejects motion of No Confidence in ruling government
- Japan's Inada says LDP approved Abe's decision to delay sales tax hike
- Japan's Yamaguchi says he will leave sales tax decision to Abe
- ECB's Visco says they will use all instruments for price stability if required
- Economists raise Australian Q1 GDP forecast after today's net exports data
- Earthquake reported off the North East coast of Taiwan measuring 7.2 magnitude
- Gooood morning UK! Wanna catch up on what you missed on holiday Monday?
- Month-end EURGBP demand sees cable on the back foot
- Pound under pressure again as month-end flows and stops combine
- EURGBP finds 0.7650 a step too far as sellers return
- Option expiries 10 am NY cut today 31 May
- More option expiries of note this week 1-3 June
- Nikkei 225 closes up +0.98% at 17,234.98
Data:
- Eurozone CPI May flash yy -0.1% as exp
- Germany unemployment change May -11k vs -5k exp
- France CPI May flash mm +0.4% vs +0.3% exp
- Germany retail sales April mm -0.9% vs +0.9% exp
- Eurozone unemployment rate April 10.2% as exp
- Italy unemployment rate April flash 11.7% vs 11.4% exp
- Eurozone M3 money supply April yy +4.6% vs +5.0%
- Italy CPI May flash mm +0.3% vs +0.2% exp
- Italy Q1 GDP final qq WDA +0.3% as expected
- Japan construction orders April yy -16.9% vs +19.8% prev
The pound was already in retreat from its Brexit poll-led gains in Asia when the usual month-end demand for EURGBP then added fuel to the fire as European desks got underway.
Cable was trading at 1.4685 and EURGBP at 0.7585 as we went into the 07.00 GMT fix and it wasn't long before we were looking at 1.4600 and 0.7610. Further waves of buying brought us near to GBP support levels of 1.4550-70 and 0.7650 and those provided the support for a rebound.
EURUSD meanwhile was seeing some EURJPY selling to keep it pinned down around 1.1130 as GBPJPY stops were triggered on the move down through 162.00. PM Abe has been reported to be holding a press conference in a the past few hours on the sales tax postponement but has yet to appear.
USDJPY has been back down to test 110.80 but renewed demand and yen selling generally has seen a move back above 111.10 with EURJPY rallying to test 124.00 adding to EURUSD support to post session highs of 1.1158 so far. USDCHF has shadowed EURUSD again with EURCHF underpinned still.
USDCAD had a look at 1.3080 early on as oil prices fell but has since run into a wave of general USD selling back down to 1.3040. AUDUSD has finally chewed through 0.7250-60 offers/res on the third time as asking after finding support in Asia from better Aussie data ahead of tomorrow's Q1 GDP release.NZDUSD has also enjoyed the USD selling to climb up through 0.6750 from 0.6710.
US PCE and Canadian GDP feature in a busy list of data to come and don't forget the month-end volatility we can often see around the 15.00 GMT fix,
