Good morning,
LMAX Close SYD open
USDJPY 98.405 97.65-97.655 | EURUSD 1.31102 13125-40 | EURJPY 129.033 128.166-128319 | AUDUSD 1.05067 1.0480-1.0520 | NZDUSD 0.85877 0.8555-69 | USDCAD 1.01341 1.0125-39 | EURCHF 1.21609 1.2155-68 | USDCHF 0.92737 0.9249-89 | GBPUSD 1.53436 1.5340-85 | EURGBP 0.85442 0.8525-60 |
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Weekend News
USD/JPY:
U.S. Urges Japan to Refrain From Competitive Yen DevaluationÂ
Lawmakers Say U.S.-Japan Auto Deal Is Inadequate for Trade Pact
JPY:
Japan’s Abe Urges N. Korea to Refrain from Provocations: Kyodo
Magnitude 5.8 Earthquake Hits Western Japan, Leaving 24 Injured
KRW/JPY:
South Korea Trade Ministry Expands FX Insurance as Yen Weakens
USD/KRW:
Kerry Says No Deal With China on Scaling Back Missile Defence
USD/CNY/KRW:
Levin Calls China ‘Real Disappointment’ for North Korea Stance
CNY/USD/KRW:
China Agrees to Join U.S. in Effort to End N. Korea Weapons Bid
USD/KRW/PHP:
Manila offers US its military bases in case of North Korea war
USD/GBP:
Fed, BOE Officials Don’t See Signs of Emerging Equity Bubbles
USD:
Lockhart Calls Unfounded the View That Fed Monetizes U.S. Debt
EUR:
EU Set to Clash on Bank Crisis Plan as Germany Sees Treaty Limit
EU Affirms Debt-Cutting Strategy in Face of ‘Fragile’ Outlook
Europe Moves Toward Tax Evasion Clampdown After Six-Nation Push
Cyprus Central Bank Independence Attacked, Demetriades SaysÂ
Cyprus Counting on Gold Sale for Bailout, Finance Minister Says
Spain Says Deficit Reduction Has to Be Compatible With Cycle
Schaeuble Favours ‘Liability Hierarchy’ for European Bank Bailouts
Steinbrueck Says EU Needs Central Bank Rescue Fund, Authority
EUR/GBP:
U.K. Sees German Treaty-Talk Bid as Opening to Repatriate Powers
AUD:
Australia Caps Tax Breaks to Cut A$2 Billion From Schools Budget
Harry Hindsight
·        EUR: We opened in Asia very quietly moving from around the 1.3110 area to touch above 1.3125 and we really only started to see some movement once we started to creep into the grey hours before the London opening with early Europeans quick sellers, into the London opening the market stabilised around the 1.3040 level again with resurfacing concerns on Cyprus and Portugal although the renegotiation of previous loans for both Portugal and Ireland give them several more years to pay back the debt, helping the market to slowly rise from the lows into the NYK session, the rise continued and we eventually made the opening levels just before the close before settling back slightly to the 1.3100 area.
·        GBP: As with the Euro the Cable was reasonably quiet into the first half of Asia rising from the high 1.5380’s to just below 1.5410 as cross trading dominated the market in particular GBPAUD buying as the Oz moved higher however the market struggled in the second half and as we moved into the grey market was already testing the opening levels, and followed the Euro lower at an increased rate testing into the 1.5340’s by the time London opened, the market settled down and while it remained in a tight 1.5350-80 range for the rest of the session never really looked as if it could test higher and finished the day just off its lows.
·        JPY: Having failed to breach the 100.00 level into the late part of NYK the USDJPY opened in Asia on the weak side with the market slowly declining over the day in a tight channel, there was very little to surprise the market and it was a slow day into the close when we cleared some stops below 98.80 to finish the day around the 98.40 level to make the low. With a suspected option player on the topside which looks to be of considerable size the technical guys have all started to switch their focus to the downside areas.
·        AUD: With the JPY strengthening we started to see some retail Japan selling of the AUDJPY cross in front of the weekend, Asia was particularly quiet with very little news one way or the other for the Oz and it held onto its levels for most of the session moving from the 1.0540 area to trade above the 1.0560 level during the session, only once we moved towards London did we start to see liquidation of the carry trades impacting the market and JPY strengthened against the USD continually, we saw weak stops triggered on the move through 1.0540 opening levels and again into the NYK session we saw strong selling triggering better stops from the 1.0520 level to touch the 1.0480 levels on the move down, we held the level and managed a push back above 1.0510 in lacklustre trading to end the week.
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Friday’s premiership results
Actual = A | Consensus = C | Previous = P | Revised = RÂ
JPYÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Tertiary Industry Index M/M Feb A 1.10% | C 0.80% | P -1.10%Â Â
EURÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Eurozone Industrial Production M/M Feb A 0.40% | C 0.30% | P -0.40% | R -0.60%
USDÂ Â Â Â Â Â Advance Retail Sales Mar A -0.40% | C 0.00% | P 1.10% | R 1.00%Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
USDÂ Â Â Â Â Â Retail Sales Less Autos Mar A 0.20% | C 0.20% | P 1.00%Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
USDÂ Â Â Â Â Â PPI M/M Mar A -0.60% | C 0.00% | P 0.70%Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
USDÂ Â Â Â Â Â PPI Y/Y Mar A 1.10% | C 1.90% | P 1.70%Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
USDÂ Â Â Â Â Â PPI Core M/M Mar A 0.20% | C 0.20% | P 0.20%
USDÂ Â Â Â Â Â PPI Core Y/Y Mar A 1.70% | C 1.70% | P 1.70%Â Â Â Â
USDÂ Â Â Â Â Â U. of Michigan Confidence Apr (P) A 72.3 | C 78.8 | P 78.6Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
USDÂ Â Â Â Â Â Business Inventories Feb A 0.10% | C 0.40% | P 1.00%Â Â
For today
USDJPY:
Topside: 98.40-98.70 light offers
Downside: 97.50-97.60 light bids 97.20-97.50 light sell stops EURUSD:
Topside: 1.3140-1.3160 light offers 1.3170-1.3200 light mix 1.3200-1.3230 light offers
Downside: 1.3030-1.3060 light bids 1.3000-1.3030 light bids
EURJPY:
Nothing significant
AUDUSD:
Topside: 1.0540-1.0570 light buy stops
Downside: 1.0400-1.0420 medium sized bids
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CNY: China Q1 GDP growth stumbles, industrial output weak
China 1Q Slower Growth Due to Global Hurdles, Domestic Curbs – Stats Official
China March property investment slows, sales strong
China Finance Minister: Fiscal Reform Must Focus on Wealth Redistribution
China may raise trading margins as gold, silver prices tank
USD/KRW:
US Ready to Talk, But North Korea Must Honour Commitments – Kerry
KRW:
South Korea ‘Regrets’ North’s Rejection of Dialogue
Defiant N. Korea celebrates founder’s anniversary
N. Korea, Yen Depreciation Are Downside Risks to Korean Economy
S. Korea Will Try to Stabilize FX Market against Herd Behaviour
JPY:
BOJ’s Kuroda: Japan market conditions improving
Japan revised Feb industrial output up 0.6% MoM
AUD:
Australian Feb Housing Finance +2.0% vs. Consensus +1.5%
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·        EUR: Weekend new was more of what we already knew with various governments unwilling to face up to the plight previous governments have created and thinking that if they duck their heads it will all go away however, it’s not and in all likelihood at this rate it will drag the process out for years and the likes of Germany will become more disenchanted with being the bank for Europe. The Euro opened more or less in line with the close in NYK however, it struggled to make any headway as the JPY strengthened throughout the session on comments from the US on uncompetitive devaluation, eventually the pressure of this and the numbers out of China triggered a minor selloff in the market taking the pair from the 1.3100 area to below 1.3070 before stabilising and holding around the 1.3075 level as we move to the London opening.
·        GBP: EURGBP selling from the start of the session helped to take Cable higher initially, moving from above the 0.8540 area to touch the 0.8515 levels, it pushed the Cable to above the 1.5380 level from the opening 1.5345 levels however, the Euro eventually started to deteriorate further after the Chinese numbers and Cable was dragged lower and dropped into weak stops below the opening levels triggering a reversal in the EURGBP crosses and taking Cable to 1.5310 for basically the same movement down from the open as it was up we currently hold above the 1.5325 level with flows slowing to a trickle as we head to London.
·        JPY: From the opening which was below NYK at the 98.40 level the market attempted to move higher but ran into some solid selling in the early Tokyo market, with Gold being aggressively sold on the back of the forth coming supply from Cyprus margined accounts in Japan found themselves with calls for margin triggering retail selling in USDJPY and crosses especially carry trades, add to which the China data effecting the AUD market and we soon saw a general strengthening of the Yen across the board as the first of the warning shots were fired by the US on devaluing the currency at the detriment of other markets I.E. the US we managed to stabilise around the 97.60 area and we currently hold above 97.80 after a reasonably hectic day and a decent IP number goes through for Japan.
·        AUD: The Oz opened in line with the NYK close above the 1.0510 level and struggled to make any impact rising slowly to just above the 1.0520 level before the China Data releases impacted on the market with a GDP rise of only 7.70% against the expected and often talked about 8.00% level the Oz quickly dropped back as it fell we saw selling in AUDJPY hit the market adding to the pairs lows triggering some stops along the way and pushing down into some reasonable sized bids to trade below the 1.0420 level before holding, even so the bounce if you could call it that was barely enough to push it back to the 1.0440 area and we currently hold just below the level as we move to London.
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Today’s data
Actual = A Consensus = C Previous = P Timings GMT
GBPÂ Â Â Â Â Â Rightmove House Prices MoM Apr A 2.10% | P 1.70%
AUDÂ Â Â Â Â Â Home Loans Feb A 2.00% | C 1.50% | P -1.50% | R -0.30%
CNYÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Industrial Production YTD YoY Mar A 8.90% | C 10.00% | P 9.90%
CNYÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Retail Sales YTD YoY Mar A 12.60% | C 12.50% | P 12.30%
CNY Â Â Â Â Â Â Real GDP YoY Q1 A 7.70% | C 8.00% | P 7.90%
JPYÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Industrial Production MoM Feb (F) A 0.6% | C -0.10% | P -0.10%
9:00Â Â Â Â Â Â Â EURÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Eurozone Trade Balance (EUR) Feb C 9.7B | P 9.0B
12:30Â Â Â Â USDÂ Â Â Â Â Â Empire State Manufacturing Apr C 7 | P 9.24
13:30 Â Â Â USDÂ Â Â Â Â Â Net Long-Term TIC Flows Feb C $40.0B | P $25.7B
14:00 Â Â Â USDÂ Â Â Â Â Â NAHB Housing Market Index Apr C 45 | P 44
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Ranges as of 6am London time including Sydney open
                               Highs   Lows
USD/JPYÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 98.715 | 97.55
EUR/USDÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 1.3150 | 1.3065
EUR/JPYÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 129.31 | 127.56
AUD/USDÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 1.0525 | 1.0416
NZD/USDÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 0.8580 | 0.8479
USD/CADÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 1.0197 | 1.0125
EUR/CHFÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 1.2168 | 1.2153
USD/CHFÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 0.9305 | 0.9269
GBP/USDÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 1.5386 | 1.5309
EUR/GBPÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 0.8550 | 0.85155
Stay lucky
Andy