Forex news from the European morning session 4 March 2015
News:
- The Greek bailout (that hasn't been discussed) is still going to be around €30/50bn says de Guindos
- Eurogroup's next meeting will discuss Greek liquidity and debt maturity needs
- UK wages still below pre-crisis levels
- RBI's Rajan says excessively strong rupee is undesirable
- Don't blame us for oil price falls says Saudi oil minister
- UK 1 vs ECB 0
- UK wins euro-clearing case against the ECB
- Option expiries 10am NY cut 4 March
Data:
- February 2015 UK Markit CIPS services PMI 56.7 vs 57.5 exp
- January 2015 eurozone retail sales 1.1% vs 0.1% exp m/m
- Eurozone Markit services PMI Feb 53.7 vs 53.9 exp
- German Markit services PMI Feb 54.7 vs 55.5 exp
- French Markit services PMI Feb 53.4 as exp
- Italian Markit services PMI Feb 50.00 vs 51.4 exp
- Spanish Markit services PMI Feb 56.2 vs 56.7 prev
- Nikkei 225 closes down -0.59% at 18,703.60
It's been another busy session with good two-way business but one that's ultimately seen the euro under pressure after weaker PMI data and the ECB fears going into tomorrow's revelations, or not as the case may be
EURUSD began perkily enough around 1.1180 but it wasn't long before the weaker data kicked in and we've so far seen 1.1116 with EURGBP dropping back to Monday's 7year lows at 0.7635 from an early rally to 0.7280. EURJPY has fallen to 132.93 from 133.80 as USDJPY tests 119.50 again with yen pairs in general retreating too
The pound had an early wobble with GBPUSD dipping to 1.5340 and EURGBP up to 0.7280 only to see demand creep in as the latter fell back on the euro weakness. UK services PMI though came in under expectations which saw cable fall again to session lows of 1.5325 and EURGBP back to 0.7260 only to once again meet decent GBP demand
USDCHF has looked perky again above 0.9600 but even EURCHF has felt the euro heat and has capped ahead of 1.0760 again
USDCAD saw a move to 1.2530 from 1.2485 on softer oil only to see a move back down while AUDUSD has chewed it way higher from 0.7815 to 0.7846 as I type helped by EURAUD sellers. Similarly NZDUSD has climbed to 0.7598 from 0.7545
More data to come from the US and that BOC interest date decision
Have a good session everyone
