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30 Mar 2015
USD dominates Asia, German CPI eyed
FXStreet (Mumbai) - The entire Antipodeans complex underperformed in a data-light Asian trading on a broadly stronger US dollar and sliding commodity prices. While the Japanese yen remained muted shrugging off poor Japan’s industrial output numbers.
Key headlines in Asia
Japan Industrial Production (YoY) rose from previous -2.8% to -2.6% in February
Japan Industrial Production (MoM): -3.4% (February) vs previous 3.7%
USD strengthens in Asia, Kiwi worst performer
Key events on Monday - Westpac
Dominating themes in Asia - centered on JPY, AUD, NZD
A calm Asian session with only industrial production data from Japan released while the US dollar strength absolutely dominated the fx markets. The US dollar remained elevated across the board, riding higher on Yellen’s comments over the weekend and on rising treasury yields.
Both the AUD/USD and NZD/USD pair were undermined by falling commodity prices and strengthening US dollar, although the Kiwi emerged as weakest performer in Asia. USD/JPY remained flat around 100-DMA located at 119.24 levels as markets ignored downbeat Japanese Ip data.
Heading into Europe - centered on EUR, GBP
In the day ahead, we have the key German Prelim CPI data for the euro traders, besides the 2-tier data viz. the Italian confidence numbers to be published at 7.00GMT. Germany will release its preliminary inflation data for March, with CPI growth seen at 0.4% on a monthly basis, while growing 0.3% annually. Confidence in Italian manufacturing in March, may edge higher after 99.1 recorded in February.
Moreover, the Greece issue will remain in spotlight today after the Greek government sent the package of reform proposals to their euro zone partners on Friday night.
Meanwhile, the GBP calendar is also relatively dry for the day with no 3-tier data on cards. Although, UK net lending to individuals m/m and mortgage approvals data will be published at 8.30GMT.
For further insights on EUR, GBP trades, ANZ FX Strategy Team reviews the latest positioning data for the week ending 24 Mar 2015, “Net short positioning in the EUR reached a new high of USD23.9bn, up USD3.3bn from USD20.6bn previously. This was despite a rebound of the EUR (from a low of 1.0458 on 16 March to a high of 1.1043 on 19 March) in the past two CFTC reporting periods.”
“Apart from the EUR, leveraged accounts also increased their net shorts in the GBP, by USD0.4bn to USD2.4bn, the highest in six weeks. BoE minutes released on 18 March, which said that currency strength could dampen inflation further, were seen as dovish.”
Key headlines in Asia
Japan Industrial Production (YoY) rose from previous -2.8% to -2.6% in February
Japan Industrial Production (MoM): -3.4% (February) vs previous 3.7%
USD strengthens in Asia, Kiwi worst performer
Key events on Monday - Westpac
Dominating themes in Asia - centered on JPY, AUD, NZD
A calm Asian session with only industrial production data from Japan released while the US dollar strength absolutely dominated the fx markets. The US dollar remained elevated across the board, riding higher on Yellen’s comments over the weekend and on rising treasury yields.
Both the AUD/USD and NZD/USD pair were undermined by falling commodity prices and strengthening US dollar, although the Kiwi emerged as weakest performer in Asia. USD/JPY remained flat around 100-DMA located at 119.24 levels as markets ignored downbeat Japanese Ip data.
Heading into Europe - centered on EUR, GBP
In the day ahead, we have the key German Prelim CPI data for the euro traders, besides the 2-tier data viz. the Italian confidence numbers to be published at 7.00GMT. Germany will release its preliminary inflation data for March, with CPI growth seen at 0.4% on a monthly basis, while growing 0.3% annually. Confidence in Italian manufacturing in March, may edge higher after 99.1 recorded in February.
Moreover, the Greece issue will remain in spotlight today after the Greek government sent the package of reform proposals to their euro zone partners on Friday night.
Meanwhile, the GBP calendar is also relatively dry for the day with no 3-tier data on cards. Although, UK net lending to individuals m/m and mortgage approvals data will be published at 8.30GMT.
For further insights on EUR, GBP trades, ANZ FX Strategy Team reviews the latest positioning data for the week ending 24 Mar 2015, “Net short positioning in the EUR reached a new high of USD23.9bn, up USD3.3bn from USD20.6bn previously. This was despite a rebound of the EUR (from a low of 1.0458 on 16 March to a high of 1.1043 on 19 March) in the past two CFTC reporting periods.”
“Apart from the EUR, leveraged accounts also increased their net shorts in the GBP, by USD0.4bn to USD2.4bn, the highest in six weeks. BoE minutes released on 18 March, which said that currency strength could dampen inflation further, were seen as dovish.”