European, German and French manufacturing PMI all failed to hit expectation yesterday evening while Services PMI all outperformed but markets leant with the former and the Euro struggled post release. It eased as low as 1.3479 USD after trading 60 pips higher in the tail end of the Asian session. The Australian dollar fared better still buoyed by the strong Chinese HSBC Flash Manufacturing PMI and it traded up to 94.58 US cents before softening through the latter half of the US session.
The US dollar performance was mixed following the confusion of having several Fed members speaking on the same night and cross references their key points with comments made last week. The US dollar struggled against the Yen down to 98.65 Yen, down 60 pips from yesterday’s open whilst it the firmed against. There was some volatility versus the pound in trade but by the end of the session this morning the Pound was still half a cent higher than this time yesterday.
With a lack of data put today currency trade has been very flat with the majority of pairs going sideways since the end of trade in New York. The Aussie dollar has eased in line with equity markets softer start and trade is likely to be governed by the Asian indices performances today.
Joel Murphy
www.pepperstone.com Joel Murphy is a currency analyst and market commentator for Forex Broker Pepperstone and he regularly features on Sky Business News Australia. He has worked in both retail and institutional Forex for last 8 years and completed a Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor of Arts from Monash University
