Forex news from European trading - 27 December 2017
Economic data:
- Japan Nov housing starts y/y -0.4% vs -2.5% expected
- Switzerland Nov UBS consumption indicator 1.67 vs 1.54 prior
- SNB total sight deposits w.e. 22 Dec CHF 574.6bn vs CHF 575.4bn prior
- Switzerland Dec Credit Suisse investor sentiment 52.0 vs 40.7 prior
- UK Finance Nov mortgage approvals to be published on Thursday instead
Trading action:
- Nikkei 225 closes up +0.08% at 22,911.21
- JPY sells off across the board, now the weakest major currency on the day
- Rush of dollar weakness flowing into the market
- USD/CAD falls to session lows, eyeing a move lower
- Stoxx 600's tech sector feeling a pinch after analysts cut iPhone X forecasts
- Aussie and kiwi moves bound by AUD/NZD pair
Others:
- FX option expiries for the 10am NY cut - 27 Dec 2017
- Chip makers aren't banking on cryptocurrencies next year
- White House is said to consider Richard Clarida for Fed vice chair job
Markets:
- AUD leads the way, USD, JPY lags behind
- European equities mostly lower (only FTSE is higher on the day)
- Gold is up by 0.12% to $1,284.53
- WTI crude is lower by 0.97% to $59.39
- US 10-year yields is flat at 2.47%
- Bitcoin is lower on the day by 1% to $15,775
It's been a quiet session, but there are good ranges to be had today. The main theme in European trading has been dollar weakness - and that hasn't changed as we hit mid-day in London.
Commodity currencies are leading the charge as USD/CAD continues to trade at session lows of 1.2637. Meanwhile, AUD/USD and NZD/USD have been squeezing out session highs throughout the day and are trading near the highs now at 0.7771 and 0.7074 respectively.
EUR/USD is also trading near session highs at 1.1891. Meanwhile, cable is trading above 1.3400 now but capped by the 1.3420 resistance level that I pointed out here. USD/CHF is slightly lower, but mostly lacked action during the day.
USD/JPY was initially trading near lows for the day, but then there was a selloff in JPY late in the session and though the yen has recovered a little - it's still mostly down against other major currencies. The yen has only pared losses against the dollar.
Not much else has happened during the trading day. Copper 3-month rolling contracts hit 3-year highs on the LME, which is an added boost to the AUD I guess. And Bitcoin reversed gains and is trading under $16,000 again.
