- Australian Dec trade balance +A$1709m vs +A$1200m exp
- Australian Dec building approvals -1.0% vs +2.0% exp
- Greek deal said to be snagged on official losses
- US talking about more sanctions on Iran
- RBA appoints new assistant governor
- Merkel in China: Sees more Chinese power at IMF
- BOJ’s Yamaguchi: Europe still the chief risk
- Azumi: calls on BOJ to take bold action
Quiet session that saw EUR/USD trade higher to nearly 1.32 in the early going before drifting back to opening levels at 1.3164. Positive trade data from Australia and China holding off on draining reserves via repos were the catalysts for the move up but the market never carried any conviction.
EUR/CHF pulled itself off the mat with specs bidding up the pair to 1.2067.
The Aussie dollar took out the August and October highs by a couple pips, touching 1.0756 but the expected stops just weren’t there and fast money appears to have rushed to the exits with AUD/USD back to 1.0713.
Gold pushed the top end of its more-recent range, touching $1751. Just like yesterday, it was unable to hold above $1750 for very long.