Forex trading headlines from the European morning session 25 September
- UK CBI distributive trades survey sept +34 vs +24 exp +27 prev
- German GDK consumer sentiment oct +7.1 vs+7 exp/prev
- BOE FPC minutes raise concerns over UK house price rises
- Germany’s Schaeuble rules out a re-election
- French business climate index sept +97 vs +99 exp +98 prev
- Italian consumer confidence sept +101.1 vs +98.5 exp + 98.4 prev
- Swiss UBS consumption indicator +1.32 vs +1.41 prev
- Germany’s Kotthaus says election uncertainty will not affect banking union
- Nikkei closes down 0.76% at 14,620.53
- Shanghai comp index closes down 0.41% at 2198.52
In an active session we’ve seen levels hold, levels breached and traders still uncertain in jittery times.
USD continues to take a hit given the US govt shut-down and US Fed non-taper scenarios with USDJPY finally breaking down through strong support at 98.50 but only reaching 98.39 thus far. Talk of month-end/half year yen purchases cited as another factor for yen buying.
EURUSD spent the early part of the session languishing around 1.3475 before finally grinding higher on the generally weaker greenback tone acclerated by bettern Italian confidence data. With the pound looking less than wanted EURGBP climbed to test sell interest above 0.8445 again from 0.8423.
Cue the CBI distributive trades survey reporting a sharp rise and GBPUSD surged to 1.6028 and now to 1.6057 as I type. EURGBP is back to 0.8420 and the pound is stronger across the board.
Aussie and kiwi have had their sellers again but both bouncing off their lows albeit not convincingly.
Markets remain nervous and the FX market is no exception. Expect further volatility in tight-ish ranges.