Forex news from the European morning session 18 March 2015
News:
- BOE MPC maintain vote at 9-0 to keep interest rates & QE on hold
- Greece aims to clarify the Feb 20 Eurogroup accord at EU summit this week
- EU'S Moscovici says they are making no plans for Grexit
- ECB's Draghi says European unity is being strained
- Fitch affirms rating for Australia at AAA/Stable
- ECB under attack,literally, as protesters run riot
- Pound given a slap as UK wages data disapppoints
- UK Budget Review (3) - (With)stand and deliver. More from the irrepressible Lilac
- Option expiries 10am NY cut 18 March
Data:
- UK jobless claims change Feb -31k vs -30k exp
- Eurozone trade balance Jan NSA EUR +7.9bln vs +15.0bln exp
- Eurozone construction output mm +1.9% vs +0.2% prev
- US MBA mortgage market index 399.3 vs 415.4 prior
- Italian global trade balance Feb EUR +219M vs +5.741bln prev
- Japanese machine tool orders Feb final 28.9% as exp/prev
- Nikkei 225 closes up +0.55% at 19,544.48
A more cautious stance from the BOE MPC and UK wages data coming in under expectation was this morning enough to send the pound tumbling further ahead of the main event later today
But it was the euro that caught the eye to start with as we saw a general rally to post 1.0610 from 1.0580, EURGBP to 0.7195 from 0.7170 and EURJPY to 128.70 from 128.40
And so it continued but then came the UK releases and it was all about the pound which saw GBPUSD fall to 1.4670 from 1.4750, EURGBP rally to 0.7230 from 0.7195 and GBPJPY down to 177.80 from 178.90
Since then the pound's remained under pressure to post 1.4630, 0.7247 and 177.40 as I type
USDJPY has once again been caught in the crossfire of EURJPY demand and GBPJPY selling but has mainly been on the back foot to 121.11 as has USDCHF which has dipped to support into 1.0000
USDCAD had an early dip to 1.2785 from 1.2815 on softer USD tones and traded tightly since while AUDUSD saw a 20 pip dip to 0.7591 on a cautious Fitch report with NZDUSD finding support on softer USD and AUDNZD selling
UK Budget up next and then, of course, the US FOMC statementat 18.00 GMT
Busy times ahead
