- Spanish People’s Party easily defeats sitting Socialist government in Spanish general election
- GBP falls on disappointing shopping and home price data
- BRC footfall shows a decline in the number of shoppers and Rightmove data shows UK home prices falling by most in 4 years
- Chinese Premier promises more Yuan flexibility
- Japanese trade balance -275 billion Yen (+40 bln expected)
- Latest BOJ meeting minutes released
- US grand budget deal unlikely to pass
- Australian mining tax closer to passing
- Qantas-Unions talks break down
- Regional stockmarkets -1% on average
- Gold quiet at $1725/oz; Oil $97.75/bbl
Most of the action today has been in the crosses, with the EUR making decent gains against the GBP, AUD and CAD.
EUR/USD closed in NY just above 1.3500 and opened at the same level after a drama-free weekend. We have seen a very quiet 35 pip range between 1.3502/37 in the main pair with all of the action happening in the crosses. EUR gained over 0.5% against the AUD, CAD and GBP.
AUD/USD traded quietly around parity until the S&P futures opened 1% lower and this set off some mild risk averse trading. EUR/AUD buying was to the fore and dealers targeted and triggered stops below .9960. News that the mining tax was set to pass and that Qantas talks had broken down also weighed on the Aussie. Ranges: .9944/1.0014
GBP has also underperformed with two bad sets of economic data from the retail shopping sector and also on the home price front. EUR/GBP opened at .8550 but has moved steadily higher through the session, closing near its session highs at .8893. Cable traded 1.5736/96.
USD/JPY traded another very quiet 19 pip range between 76.72/91 despite the raft of economic data and the BOJ minutes.
USD/CHF range .9163/82.