Entering into US session, Australian Dollar is the strongest for the day, but it’s Euro that’s actually got some momentum. Or, actually, it’s Swiss Franc’s weakness that’s the theme while Euro is a main beneficiary. Canadian Dollar is trading as the second weakest one for today.
Economic data released from UK and Eurozone were largely ignored. Sterling didn’t get much lift from GDP which strong the strongest 3-month growth in nearly a year. Instead, easing concerns over Italy’s budget was the main driver. At the time of writing, Italian 10 year yield is down -0.124 at 2.921, back below 3.000. German 10 year bund yield is up 0.012 at 0.403, above above 0.400. That’s seen as that main factor driving funds out of safe haven Franc, back to Euro.
Elsewhere, European stock indices also pare back some of last week’s losses. FTSE is up 0.38%, DAX up 0.41% and CAC up 0.53%. Asian markets clearly under performed with China SSE lost -1.21% to 2669.48, Hong Kong HSI dropped -1.33% to 26613.42, Singapore Strait Times fell -0.43% to 3120.92. Raising trade tension between US and the rest of the world is weighing down sentiments. But Japanese Nikkei buck the trend and gained 0.30% even though Japan is clearly Trump’s next target.
Gold continues to consolidate below 1214.30 but is held comfortably above key near term support at 1182.9.
