- German retails sales feb +0.4% vs -1% exp +3.1% prev
- UK Nationwide house price index m/m unchanged y/y + 0.8%
- Cyprus stock exchange remains closed
- Italian econ min Grilli says they can still reach deficit targets
- German unemployment march +13k vs -4k exp rate 6.9% vs 6.9% exp 6.9% prev.
- Italian manufacturing business confidence 88.9 vs 88 exp 88.5 prev
- Eurozone m3 annualised growth + 3.1% vs 3.3% exp
- Fitch re-affirms Australia at AAA-stable outlook
- UK service sector output m/m +0.3% q/q -0.2%
- OECD sees G7 q1 growth at 2.4%
- Banks in Cyprus re-open
- Italian econ min Grilli says no knowledge of ratings downgrade
A very lively session with opportunity for buyers and sellers in all pairs
Euro had an early boost on better than expected german retail sales data but EURUSD couldn’t break up through sell orders between 1.2800-20 and came back down to test the strong barrier support at 1.2750 after weaker than expected german jobs data.
EURJPY came down to 119.75, EURAUD to 1.2263 and EURGBP to 0.8416 before the banks in Cyprus re-opened, the market got a little more relieved and month-end euro demand all kicked in to see a a strong reversal to 1.2822, 120.95 and 0.8477 respectively.
Plenty of action in between as thin pre-Easter liquidity produces greater volatility, and we can expect more of the same before the day is out.