Forex news from the European morning session 21 April 2015

News:

  • ECB said to be considering curbs on Greek bank support if reform progress not forthcoming
  • ECB proposals suggest Greek debt haircut of 90% in disorderly default
  • Japan's Hamada says more easing needed if 2% core inflation can not be achieved
  • UK Election 2015: Latest You-Gov poll gives Labour a 1 point lead
  • Germany's Schaeuble says he'll boost investment with any fiscal leeway
  • Another possible default hits China
  • Russia's Medvedev says the rouble shouldn't excessively strengthen or weaken
  • Medvedev says Russian economy contracted around 2% in Q1 2015
  • Westpac say the RBA Minutes contained a "key signal" today, expect a cut in May
  • Deutsche Bank says go against the "Sell in May" mantra for USDJPY
  • Preview of Australian inflation data due on Wednesday
  • Option expiries 10am NY cut today 21 April

Data:

  • April 2015 German ZEW economic sentiment 53.3 vs 55.3 exp
  • April 2015 Eurozone ZEW economic sentiment 64.8 vs 62.4 prior
  • Nikkei closes on session highs at 19,909.09, up +1.4%
  • Japan leading index Feb final 104.80 vs 105.30 prev

It's been another lively session short on data and rhetoric but providing some good opportunity with the euro under pressure from Greek debt concerns but failing to crack completely

EURUSD opened up around the pivotal 1.0730 area but soon was drifting lower again as general USD demand was the order of the day but the euro was soon outpacing the others as talk of the ECB haircutting Greek lending gave added impetus

EURUSD was soon taking out 1.0700 support to challenge bids at 1.0680 and 1.0660 but that last line has held so far with EURGBP also challenging 0.7165 support and EURJPY at 127.50

The greenback buying was evident elsewhere too with GBPUSD falling to 1.4856 from 1.4895 and USDJPY chewing through good offers accelerated to 119.81 from 119.60 on the Hamada comments. USDCHF finally broke through 0.9600 and AUDUSD had an early test of 0.7680 while USDCAD climbed steadily to 1.2280

But these are markets going nowhere fast and we shouldn't get greedy, so it was natural enough for the moves to run out of steam, find bids and offers at key areas, and reverse. So far we've seen EURUSD back to 1.0705, GBPUSD 1.4892, USDJPY 119.32, USDCHF 0.9577, AUDUSD 0.7740 and USDCAD 1.2222

The fickle world of forex does it again, and there's good opportunity to be had