The Asian trade week draws to a quiet close with most major currencies range bound after yesterday's big dollar positive moves before the NY close. After a few US releases of uplifting data many investors are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, thus putting risk back on the table.
Although the Greenback was able to hold gains against the Euro, it looked like that grip could be slipping in Asia as the EUR/USD climbed from a 1.3900ish open to just under a 1.3940 high, with a quick stop at a low of 1.3883. GBP/USD remained in the same 1.6340 ball park it started out in, and EUR/GBP was stuck in the mud with a 30 pip range. USD/JPY didn't do a thing today, cramped in a range between 96.42 and 96.76 after the earlier Dollar positive move. EUR/JPY showed traders buying back risk as the pair made modest moves from 134.11 to just over 134.55.
The Australian and New Zealand Dollars had the best performance of the day with Asian stocks breaking out of their three day funk to post decent gains, thus boosting the currencies against the Dollar as well as Yen. AUD/USD crawled from .7980 to around .8030 as of this writing, and AUD/JPY pushed from 77.05 to just near 77.65 as a high for the day. The gains in the Kiwi were a bit more subtle, with a net gain of about 40 pips against both the Dollar and Yen. With no real data left on the table for the end of the week, all eyes are on the Federal Reserve meeting next week as traders search for clues for the next course they will plot. Enjoy the weekend....
Upcoming Economic Data Releases (London Session) prior expected
| 6/19/2009 | 6:00 | GE | Producer Prices (MoM) | MAY | -1.40% | 0.00% |
| 6/19/2009 | 6:00 | GE | Producer Prices (YoY) | MAY | -2.70% | -3.60% |
| 6/19/2009 | 6:45 | FR | Wages (QoQ) | 1Q F | 0.80% | 0.80% |
