Forex news from the European morning session - 23 March 2021
Headlines:
- UK March CBI trends total orders -5 vs -20 expected
- Oil drops by nearly 4% on firmer dollar, softer risk tones
- NZD/USD slide continues on the day, 0.7000 next?
- BOJ announces to start buying ETFs tracking the Topix only from 1 April onwards
- AstraZeneca may have included 'outdated information' in US clinical trial findings
- UK February jobless claims change 86.5k vs -20.0k prior
- ECB's Lane: PEPP purchases will show substantial increase in a consistent way over several weeks
- Germany reports 7,485 new coronavirus cases, 250 deaths in latest update today
Markets:
- JPY leads, NZD lags on the day
- European equities lower; S&P 500 futures down 0.3%
- US 10-year yields down 5.6 bps to 1.638%
- Gold up 0.1% to $1,740.70
- WTI down 3.6% to $59.35
- Bitcoin up 0.3% to $54,699
It is a bit of a messy day in the market with some hints of risk aversion being observed, more prominent in some areas and less so in others.
FX was a one of the major hotspots as the kiwi extended losses from Asian trading, with NZD/USD slumping by nearly 2% at the lows in a fall from 0.7090 to 0.7025 - building on the declines in Asia where it fell below 0.7100.
The dragged the aussie along with it as AUD/USD fell from 0.7700 to 0.7656, trading at two-week lows ahead of the North American session.
Treasury yields were seen on the retreat, in some part perhaps due to haven flows, and European equities are also marked lower - feeling some uneasiness from Turkey still.
The dollar and yen kept firmer as such, with USD/JPY itself seen falling from 108.70 to 108.41 - keeping the yen in pole position on the day.
EUR/USD fell from 1.1910 to 1.1877 while GBP/USD slumped from 1.3850 to 1.3752 before bouncing off daily support to stick around 1.3790.
Elsewhere, oil is also a key mover on the day as prices slumped by 5% at the lows in a fall to $58.47 before rebounding off support at $58.59 to be back above $59.00 now.
The contango turned negative for the first time since January, signaling some oversupply worries, so that may have been a key trigger in dragging prices lower.
Other than that, US futures kept slightly lower but nothing too overwhelming while gold is little changed on the day while Bitcoin rebounds after a $1,000 plunge earlier.