Market Review - 31/03/2015 22:37GMT
Euro falls on lingering concerns over Greek debt deal
The single currency extended Monday's sell off and ratcheted lower to a 1-week low of 1.0713 in Europe on Tuesday on continued concerns over Greek debt.
European Commission said 'we have not yet reached a deal with Greece.' Greek government official said 'Greek technical team returning to Athens from Brussels without deal with EU/IMF lenders; talks with Brussels group of lenders might continue next week.'
However, euro rebounded later in the day and climbed to 1.0776 in New York morning as Greek government official said Greece will to reach a deal with lenders quickly; Greek government Euro Working Group confirms call will be held on Wednesday as expected; said both sides agreed to intensify process of fact-finding taking place in Athens.
Germany's Merkel later said at a joint news conference with French President Francois Hollande in Berlin that 'time is of the essence on Greece' and indicated that Greece needs to stick to its commitments and though there was some leeway for the new government to make some changes, it needed to fulfill the general framework of what had been agreed.
In other news, Warren Buffett, the billionaire chief executive officer and chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc, said Tuesday that an exit by Greece from the euro zone could be constructive for the region.
The greenback extended Monday's rally on Tuesday and climbed to an intra-day high of 120.36 in Tokyo morning, however, profit-taking capped dollar's upside due to the retreat in Nikkei-225 index which closed down by 204 points to 19207. The pair retreated to 119.78 in NY before trading sideways.
BoJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said no change to overall price trend, still expect inflation to accelerate in future; consumer prices could decline temporarily; high chance of achieving 2% inflation in period around FY 2015; as long as oil prices don't continue falling, consumer prices are likely to accelerate a lot.'.
Japan's ECOMIN Akira Amari said no change to government fiscal discipline target of achieving primary budget surplus in fiscal 2020; focus will probably shift to debt/GDP ratio after primary budget surplus achieved.
Fed's Lacker said 'strong case for June rate hike; no fixed, pre-set timetable for normalising; policy to be set meeting-to-meeting; weak recent data may be due to weather; dollar and oil moves likely transitory; inflation to return to 2%; expects improved labor market conditions, wage growth in months ahead; expects 2-2.5% GDP growth this year.'
The British pound ratcheted lower to 1.4755 in European morning, however, short-covering above Monday's low at 1.4752 lifted the pair and then jumped to 1.4814 after the release of upward revised UK's Q4 GDP. Earlier in the day, GfK said its monthly consumer confidence index rose to +4 in March from +1 in February, its highest since June 2002.
Wednesday will see the release of Japan's tankan index, Australia's building approvals, China NBS manufacturing and non-manufacturing PMI, German and eurozone manufacturing PMI, U.K. manufacturing PMI, U.S. ADP employment, ISM manufacturing and construction spending.
Euro falls on lingering concerns over Greek debt deal
The single currency extended Monday's sell off and ratcheted lower to a 1-week low of 1.0713 in Europe on Tuesday on continued concerns over Greek debt.
European Commission said 'we have not yet reached a deal with Greece.' Greek government official said 'Greek technical team returning to Athens from Brussels without deal with EU/IMF lenders; talks with Brussels group of lenders might continue next week.'
However, euro rebounded later in the day and climbed to 1.0776 in New York morning as Greek government official said Greece will to reach a deal with lenders quickly; Greek government Euro Working Group confirms call will be held on Wednesday as expected; said both sides agreed to intensify process of fact-finding taking place in Athens.
Germany's Merkel later said at a joint news conference with French President Francois Hollande in Berlin that 'time is of the essence on Greece' and indicated that Greece needs to stick to its commitments and though there was some leeway for the new government to make some changes, it needed to fulfill the general framework of what had been agreed.
In other news, Warren Buffett, the billionaire chief executive officer and chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc, said Tuesday that an exit by Greece from the euro zone could be constructive for the region.
The greenback extended Monday's rally on Tuesday and climbed to an intra-day high of 120.36 in Tokyo morning, however, profit-taking capped dollar's upside due to the retreat in Nikkei-225 index which closed down by 204 points to 19207. The pair retreated to 119.78 in NY before trading sideways.
BoJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said no change to overall price trend, still expect inflation to accelerate in future; consumer prices could decline temporarily; high chance of achieving 2% inflation in period around FY 2015; as long as oil prices don't continue falling, consumer prices are likely to accelerate a lot.'.
Japan's ECOMIN Akira Amari said no change to government fiscal discipline target of achieving primary budget surplus in fiscal 2020; focus will probably shift to debt/GDP ratio after primary budget surplus achieved.
Fed's Lacker said 'strong case for June rate hike; no fixed, pre-set timetable for normalising; policy to be set meeting-to-meeting; weak recent data may be due to weather; dollar and oil moves likely transitory; inflation to return to 2%; expects improved labor market conditions, wage growth in months ahead; expects 2-2.5% GDP growth this year.'
The British pound ratcheted lower to 1.4755 in European morning, however, short-covering above Monday's low at 1.4752 lifted the pair and then jumped to 1.4814 after the release of upward revised UK's Q4 GDP. Earlier in the day, GfK said its monthly consumer confidence index rose to +4 in March from +1 in February, its highest since June 2002.
Wednesday will see the release of Japan's tankan index, Australia's building approvals, China NBS manufacturing and non-manufacturing PMI, German and eurozone manufacturing PMI, U.K. manufacturing PMI, U.S. ADP employment, ISM manufacturing and construction spending.
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