Forex news from the European trading session - 25 May 2021
Headlines:
- UK CBI May retailing reported sales 18 vs 25 expected
- ECB's Stournaras: No reason to change pace of PEPP purchases
- Germany May Ifo business climate index 99.2 vs 98.0 expected
- SNB total sight deposits w.e. 21 May CHF 709.6 bn vs CHF 707.8 bn prior
- One thing to note about the latest rise in the Chinese yuan this time around
- Offshore yuan gains past 6.40 against the dollar
- Germany Q1 final GDP -1.8% vs -1.7% q/q prelim
- Germany reports 1,911 new coronavirus cases, 33 deaths in latest update today
- NZ says to pause travel with Australian state of Victoria for 72 hours initially
Markets:
- NZD leads, JPY lags on the day
- European equities higher; S&P 500 futures up 0.4%
- US 10-year yields down 0.9 bps to 1.593%
- Gold flat at $1,881.85
- WTI down 0.4% to $65.80
- Bitcoin down 5.9% to $36,720
It was a quiet session in terms of headlines but there were some decent moves in the market with the dollar dragged lower after the offshore Chinese yuan strengthened past the 6.40 mark for the first time since 2018.
That triggered a bout of dollar selling across the board, though the onshore Chinese yuan did end the session just above 6.40. Watch out for that PBOC fix tomorrow.
EUR/USD managed to pick up a bid as such, climbing from 1.2230 to 1.2260 and is holding at its highest levels since January, keeping above the 25 February high @ 1.2243.
GBP/USD also gained from 1.4160-70 to 1.4210 before paring its advance completely upon what seems to be a rejection of the 1.4200 level once again for now.
Commodity currencies were slow to join in on the action but as risk sentiment is holding more buoyant, the aussie and kiwi gradually gained during the session.
NZD/USD moved up from 0.7215 to 0.7245 while AUD/USD moved up from 0.7755 to 0.7770 with changes being relatively light overall.
US futures are marked higher as buyers look to continue to good work from yesterday with month-end trading set to be a focus in the days ahead.