- Japanese retail sales in February much stronger than expected at +3.5% (+1.3%)
- Australian job vacancies slide by 0.3%
- New Zealand business conditions improve: NBNZ
- UK pay deals steady at 3%
- Regional stocks fall by almost 1%
- Gold $1660/oz; Oil $105.25/bbl
It was all about flows today and AUD/JPY was the lead pair. There was talk in the market this morning that macro funds and CTAs were starting to get nervous after building longs over the last few weeks and there seems to have been some basis to this chatter, as stops below 85.60 were targeted and triggered. AUD/JPY had opened near 86.20 but that proved to be the session high as the pair fell to lows at 85.45 before recovering slightly. AUD/USD fell as far as strong technical support at 1.0335 before stabilising and bouncing 30 pips. Ranges: AUD/JPY 85.44/86.20; AUD/USD 1.0337/1.0404
USD/JPY opened near 82.90 but has gradually moved lower on corporate selling and the above-mentioned AUD/JPY selling. Bids near 82.60 stalled the bears for an extended period but bounces were non-existent. Ranges: 82.53/96
EUR/USD was again at the mercy of EUR/AUD and EUR/JPY flows but very little interest was shown in EUR/USD itself, which traded 1.3305/32
Cable 1.5882/1.5905; EUR/GBP .8373/85; EUR/CHF 1.2048/58 (yet again!!)