Forex news and trading headlines 30 March 2015

  • March 2015 German Saxony CPI 0.5% vs 0.3% prior y/y
  • March 2015 German CPI y/y Bavaria +0.5% vs +0.3% prior. Hesse 0.2% vs +0.1% prior. Brandenburg +0.2% vs -0.1% prior
  • March 2015 German North Rhine CPI 0.2% vs 0.0% prior y/y
  • March 2015 Italian consumer confidence 110.9 vs 110.9 exp
  • February 2015 UK consumer credit 0.740bn vs 0.900bn exp
  • March 2015 Eurozone economic sentiment 103.9 vs 103.1 exp
  • Spanish economy to grow nearer to 2% says de Guindos
  • March 2015 Spanish HICP flash -0.7% vs -0.9% exp y/y
  • March 2015 Swiss KOF leading indicator 90.8 vs 89.1 exp
  • SNB sight deposits CHF 379.35bn vs 376.50bn prior
  • Bank of Japan (BOJ) Governor Kuroda comments
  • Kuroda: BOJ not aiming to bring FX into a specific range
  • UK officially enters full election campaign mode
  • PBOC to ease mortgage policy - Livesquawk
  • BOE's Carney says UK banks are on a stronger footing
  • Greece keeps Germany waiting for reform list
  • EU may hold a meeting on Greece before Easter
  • Oil spills Yemen premium as Iran deal edges closer
  • Blogging with Bernanke

The morning kicked off with the pound getting a kicking as it fell to 1.4821 from just shy of 1.4860. EUR/GBP jumped to 0.7340 and the quick unwind of that move suggested end of month flows into Euro's. Not too long after that the dollar took over and drove cable lower to 1.4801 before we staged a bounce to 1.4865. Broad dollar buying became the theme for the session and as I type we're back down at 1.4800, having nudged 4 pips under the big figure

The euro felt the dollar pressure as it fell to 1.0820 from 1.0870. It regained a small bid on better German inflation data from the regionals and further improvement in the confidence and sentiment indexes, but the gains didn't last and renewed dollar pressure saw us sink to 1.0830 from the 1.0870 bounce.

USD/JPY started off strongly a couple of hours into the session as it put on a quick 40 pips from 119.20. We then carried on to 119.80 where offers capped the rally. The shallow retrace to 119.65 suggests that dollar buying is back in fashion, today at least, but the shadow of end of month/quarter/FY end flows looms large and so moves should be taken at face value rather than signposting direction.

AUD/USD is the biggest loser of the session so far as it tumbles nearly 100 pips. A falsely touted PBOC "important announcement" gave it a mild bid above 0.7700 but traders watching the Iron ore prices are said to have helped send the aussie down to the days low at 0.7665

AS mentioned flows are likely to dominate and liquidity has been touted as very low by London desks. Tomorrow sees an increase in option activity and the rest of the month end stuff, which will likely carry on into the 1st of April, so don't be fooled by the moves ;-)