Key Notes:
- Australia Westpac consumer sentiment -1.2% vs. 8% previously
- Japan core machinery orders m/m -1.7% vs. -3.9%
- Japan PPI m/m 0.5% as expected
- China industrial production y/y 6.8% vs. 7.7%
- China retail sales y/y 10.7% vs. 11.6%
- UK manufacturing production m/m -0.5% vs. 0.2%
- UK industrial production m/m -0.1% vs. 0.2%
- ECB President Mario Draghi speech
Later
- RBNZ Interest rate decision
- RBNZ Monetary Policy press conference
With little economic news to fall back on the currency markets were trading in a broad range with the US Dollar’s strength being the major theme, while the Japanese Yen continued to trade mixed across the board.
The Asian session saw weaker industrial production data from China as it missed estimates rising 6.8% and down from previous 7.9% increase. The markets however did not react much to the news. The Australian Dollar opened weaker today for the most part and remained at the lows of 0.759 at the time of writing, while the NZDUSD was also down to 0.722 ahead of the RBNZ interest rate decision later this evening.
USDJPY was a bit choppier as the pair managed to lift from its session lows of 121 to currently trade back above 121.5 handle. The Yen was however stronger against the Kiwi and the Australian dollar, but weaker against the Greenback and was trading choppy against the British Pound.
The European trading session had little to offer for the Euro in terms of the fundamentals, but the Euro continued its descent at a steady pace. EURUSD briefly managed to push higher to 1.07 before giving up and settling lower. EURUSD was trading at 1.056 at the time of writing. There was a speech from ECB President Mario Draghi, who merely reflected on the previous ECB press conference reiterating on the revised GDP growth and inflation expectations but the Euro continued to tumble.
From the UK, Britain’s industrial and manufacturing production both failed to meet estimates. The Cable was weaker since the start of the day but the news did little to push the price lower. The Sterling was largely mixed, trading stronger against the Canadian and the Australian dollar but subdued against the Greenback.
The US trading session is quiet today with the exception of the Crude oil inventory report which could bring some volatility. The currency markets are expected to continue their trend into the US trading session.
