Forex Daily Summary for 1 April

The Forex daily summary for 1 April features the following key notes:

• Australia building approvals m/m -3.2% vs. -4%; y/y 14.3% vs. 10.7%
• China manufacturing PMI 50.1 vs. 49.7; non-manufacturing PMI 53.7 vs. 53.9 previously
• China HSBC manufacturing PMI 49.6 vs. 49.3
• Spain manufacturing PMI 54.3 vs. 54.8
• Switzerland manufacturing PMI 47.9 vs. 47.2
• Italy manufacturing PMI 53.5 vs. 52.1
• France manufacturing PMI 48.8 vs. 48.2
• German manufacturing PMI 52.8 vs. 51.9
• Eurozone manufacturing PMI 52.2 vs. 51.9
• UK manufacturing PMI 54.4 vs. 54.4
• US ADP employment change 189k vs. 225k

Later

• US Manufacturing PMI
• New Zealand Global dairy price index
• US ISM manufacturing
• US construction spending

Asian markets opened the first trading day of the month on a cautious note with eyes on China. Manufacturing PMI’s however managed to beat estimates, but the HSBC’s version of PMI indicators continued to show a contraction in the Chinese manufacturing sector. Australia’s building approvals also showed signs of easing from its contraction. Although on a monthly basis, the building approvals declined, on an annualized basis, the building approvals were robust, rising 14.3%. The news helped to lift the Aussie dollar from its recent lows but the currency was mostly subdued. For the most part, AUDUSD was seen trading near 0.758 levels only to rise in the early US trading session.

The New Zealand Dollar was also subdued for the most part of the day, briefly touching lows of 0.74 before showing signs of easing ahead of the Global dairy price index data that could be released today. The Japanese Yen was mixed but started to show signs of strengthening across the board, with the early losers being the British Sterling, Australian and Kiwi Dollars and the Euro. USDJPY was trading near the highs of 120 before giving up on its gains after the ADP release.

European session saw its share of fundamentals mostly with the manufacturing PMI data from various Eurozone countries. Overall, manufacturing activity continues to show pick up with the overall Eurozone manufacturing PMI beating estimates modestly.

The Euro was however mixed, trading stronger against the weaker Aussie while losing ground to the Yen. EURUSD managed to trim its losses after the pair managed to rise from session lows of 1.073 levels to trade near 1.077.

UK’s manufacturing PMI met estimates but did little to help support the Cable, which briefly broke the support at 1.482 but the overall ranging price action is very likely to continue for the coming days.

The US trading session saw the release of the ADP employment change, which was disappointing, printing 189k new jobs, below estimates. ADP numbers for the previous month were revised higher from 212k to 214k. The Greenback weakened on the news with the Dollar Index back near 98.5 levels. Further economic data from the US is in store later in the day which could continue to be a risk for the Greenback as expectations remain low on rising concerns of the rapid appreciation in the US Dollar.

In other geo-political news, there was no outcome yet from the Iran nuclear negotiations and Crude and Brent oil continue to drift aimlessly, in anticipation of a verdict from the negotiations. Eurogroup members will be holding a teleconference call to discuss on the recently submitted Greece reform plans as the crisis continues to inch forward without any clear decisions being made.