Forex Today: Yen rebounds in Asia, UK GDP, German CPI – Up next
|Forex today witnessed a quiet, with no major economic events on the cards, as volumes dry out heading into the Easter weekend. Broad-based USD strength faded in Asia, as mixed market sentiment weighed down on Treasury yields while a lack of fresh catalysts also kept the bulls on the back foot.
Among the Asia-pac currencies, the Yen was the top gainer, having staged a solid comeback from two-week lows versus its US rival. The Japanese currency ignored the Yen jawboning by the country’s Finance Minister Aso. Meanwhile, the Antipodeans traded mixed towards Asia closing, with the Kiwi on the offers around the 0.72 handle. The Aussie recovered losses and jumped back above the 0.7650 barrier, having derived good support from higher commodities’ prices, including gold, copper and oil prices.
Main topics in Asia
Australia job vacancies climb to fresh record in Feb quarter - Reuters News
Job vacancies in Australia climbed to a record high of 220,900 in the three months to February - up 19.3 percent on year, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showed on Thursday.
Japan's Asahi newspaper: Japan offers North Korea talks - Reuters
Japan's Asahi newspaper is reporting that Japan is offering to hold talks with North Korea, as being reported by Reuters.
China’s Gao: Hopes US takes measures and resolve conflicts with China
China's Commerce Ministry (MOFCOM) spokesman Gao Feng is on the wires now, via Reuters, urging the US to seek resolution on the trade issues through dialogue with China.
UK’s Thornberry: Labour party will 'probably' vote for final Brexit deal – The Telegraph
Emily Thornberry, the UK’s Shadow Foreign Secretary, said in an interview with The Telegraph, she expected the “divorce deal”, which the Government hopes to agree with Brussels by October, with the Labour Party “probably” expected to vote in favor of the final Brexit deal.
Japan’s Aso: USD would rise if US-Japan rate differential reaches 3%.
More comments flowing in from the Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso, via Reuters, as he continues to speak on the US-Japan trade issue.
China’s State Council: China to lower VAT from May 1st - Reuters
Reuters reports the key development from the meeting of the Chinese State Council, or cabinet, held late on Wednesday, citing that China is likely to lower the value-added tax (VAT) rate on the following sectors from May 1st.
Key Focus ahead
Wrapping the Easter-holiday shortened week, the EU calendar today remains heavy, with plenty of risk events, including the employment and prelim CPI data from Germany. Also, of note will be a slew of the UK economic releases dropping in at 0830 GMT. The UK docket sees the final Q4 GDP release, followed by current account and net lending to individuals among other minority reports.
Heading into the US open, we have the Canadian GDP and RMPI data releases alongside the US core PCE price index, jobless claims and personal spending data lined up at 1230 GMT. Later on, the Chicago PMI and revised consumer sentiment will also grab some attention, as liquidity thins out ahead of the Good Friday holiday.
EUR/USD looking to recover after bouncing off 1.2300
Thursday will be seeing a slew of German macro data from within the Eurozone, kicking off with German Unemployment at 08:00 GMT, followed by preliminary Harmonized German CPI at 12:00 GMT.
GBP/USD: Rally stalls ahead of the UK GDP release
The GBP/USD may regain bid tone if the UK Q4 GDP, due at 08:30 GMT, is revised upwards and is accompanied by an upbeat service sector performance. Also, US personal spending report scheduled for release in the US session could influence the GBP/USD pair.
How to trade the UK GDP with GBP/USD
The final read of UK GDP for Q4 2017 is closely watched and may provide a trading opportunity. In the last five releases, the GBP/USD moved, on average, 38 pips in the 15 minutes after the release and 71 pips in the 4 hours after the announcement.
US dollar downside pressures remain
With bearish sentiment and downside pressure likely to continue, barring any substantially positive news or data, the dollar could have significantly further to fall. The next target immediately to the downside is around the noted 88.50-area support.
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