Forex Today: Antipodeans rally in Asia, ECB Bulletin, UK data eyed

Dhwani Mehta FXStreet

The Antipodeans emerged the top gainer in a quiet Asian session this Thursday, replicating the moves seen in Asia a day before. No fresh catalysts were in sight for the rally, except for the overnight rally in commodities’ prices. Meanwhile, the US dollar failed to sustain the recovery attempts across its main competitors, which added to the weight on USD/JPY. Also, the upbeat Japanese datasets boosted the Yen, sending USD/JPY briefly below 113 handle.

Among other related markets, the Asian stocks traded mostly higher near one-year tops, while gold prices eased-off 4-week tops near $ 1293. WTI remained better bid, but below the $ 60 mark.

Main topics in Asia

Japan said to mull developing long-range cruise missile: Sankei

Japan industrial output, retail sales rise more-than-expected in Nov

Reuters offers key details on the Japanese industrial output and retail sales data released earlier today, with the main points found below.

Gold consolidates near 4-week tops, $ 1300 still in sight

Gold futures on Comex eased-off multi-week tops reached at $ 1293.20 in the overnight trades, now consolidating yesterday’s rally amid broad-based US dollar recovery.

South Korea Govt to carry out additional measures regarding cryptocurrency trading

Reuters came out with the latest headlines on cryptocurrencies, citing that the South Korean government is planning to conduct an additional review of the cryptocurrency exchanges.

Key Focus ahead

Yet another data-quiet EUR calendar today, with the UK high street lending data and ECB economic bulletin due to be reported. Meanwhile, we have the final batch of US economic data for this year lined up for release, which includes the US jobless claims, Chicago PMI, goods trade balance and EIA crude inventories report.

EUR/USD refreshes 4-week tops near 1.1910, what’s next?

The EUR/USD pair staged a solid comeback in the Asian trades, having bounced-off the daily pivot located at 1.1885 levels in a bid to regain the 1.1900 mark.

GBP/USD: Will buyers retain control above 1.3400?

The bulls regained poise after the overnight dip, now pushing GBP/USD pair back towards the two-week tops of 1.3430, as we progress towards the early European trading.

Oil due for a 'sharp correction' in 2018 - Barclays

CNBC reports the commentary from Michael D. Cohen, head of energy commodities research, Barclays, arguing that oil prices risk a ‘sharp correction’ in 2018.

State of the American Wallet: What's in Store for 2018?

MarketWatch has "One Sure-Fire Prediction for 2018 " Americans will take on even more debt.

GMT	Event	Actual	Consensus	Previous
Wednesday, Dec 27
23:00	KRW Service Sector Output	2.5%		-1.9% Revised from -1.7%
23:00	KRW Industrial Output Growth	0.2%	1.2%	-1.5% Revised from -1.1%
23:50	JPY Large Retailer's Sales	1.4%	-0.6%	-0.7%
23:50	JPY Retail Trade (YoY)	2.2%	1.2%	-0.2%
23:50	JPY Retail Trade s.a (MoM)	1.9%	0.0%	0.0%
23:50	JPY Foreign investment in Japan stocks	¥76.2B		¥-622.2B Revised from ¥-622.5B
23:50	JPY Foreign bond investment	¥434.2B		¥52.3B Revised from ¥51.0B
23:50	JPY Industrial Production (YoY)	3.7%	6.0%	5.9%
23:50	JPY Industrial Production (MoM)	0.5%	0.5%	0.5%
23:50	JPY BOJ Summary of Opinions
Thursday, Dec 28
06:00	ZAR Private Sector Credit		5.90%	5.43%
06:00	ZAR M3 Money Supply (YoY)		6.50%	5.01%
06:00	RUB HSBC Manufacturing PMI			51.5
06:00	NOK Retail Sales			-0.2%
07:00	TRY Economic confidence index			97.9
08:30	SEK Trade Balance (MoM)			-3.1B
09:00	EUR Economic Bulletin
n/a	EUR 10-y Bond Auction			1.73%
n/a	EUR 5-y Bond Auction			0.58%
n/a	GBP BBA Mortgage Approvals		40.472K	40.488K
11:00	BRL Inflation Index/IGP-M			0.52%
12:30	USD Goods Trade Balance		$-67.6B	$-68.3B
12:30	BRL Nominal Budget Balance		-49.700B	-30.494B
12:30	BRL Primary Budget Surplus		-10.000B	4.758B
13:00	ARS Industrial Output n.s.a (YoY)			4.4%
n/a	RUB Central Bank Reserves $			$430.3B
13:30	USD Initial Jobless Claims		240K	245K
13:30	USD Continuing Jobless Claims		1.900M	1.932M
13:30	USD Wholesale Inventories		0.4%	-0.5% Revised from -0.4%
14:45	USD Chicago Purchasing Managers' Index		62.5	63.9
15:00	COP National Jobless Rate			8.6%
15:30	USD EIA Natural Gas Storage change		-102B	-182B
16:00	USD EIA Crude Oil Stocks change		-3.925M	-6.495M
18:00	USD 7-Year Note Auction			2.23%
Friday, Dec 29
n/a	AUD HIA New Home Sales (MoM)			1.6%
00:01	EUR Consumer Confidence
00:01	EUR Consumer Confidence			104.8
00:30	AUD Private Sector Credit (YoY)			5.3%
00:30	AUD Private Sector Credit (MoM)			0.4%
07:00	TRY Trade Balance			-7.32B
08:00	EUR HICP (YoY)		1.5%	1.8%
08:00	EUR Producer Price Index (MoM)			0.3%
08:00	EUR Producer Price Index (YoY)			1.7%
09:00	EUR Unemployment			11.1%
09:00	EUR Current Account Balance			€2.36B
09:00	EUR Private loans (YoY)			2.7%
09:00	EUR M3 Money Supply (3m)			5.1%
09:00	EUR M3 Money Supply (YoY)		4.8%	5.0%
10:00	EUR Retail Sales (YoY)			-0.8%
10:00	EUR Producer Price Index (YoY)			3.2%
10:00	INR Federal Fiscal Deficit, INR			5,253.21B
11:00	EUR Producer Price Index (YoY)			2%
11:00	EUR Producer Price Index (MoM)			0.3%
11:00	BRL Unemployment Rate			12.2%
11:30	INR Infrastructure Output (YoY)			4.7%
11:30	INR FX Reserves, USD			$401.39B
12:00	CLP Unemployment rate			6.7%
12:00	CLP Industrial Production (YoY)			0.6%
12:00	ZAR Trade Balance (in Rands)			4.56B
13:00	EUR Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (MoM)		0.6%	0.3%
13:00	EUR Consumer Price Index (MoM)		0.5%	0.3%
13:00	EUR Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (YoY)		1.4%	1.8%
13:00	EUR Consumer Price Index (YoY)		1.5%	1.8%
13:00	PLN Consumer Price Index (YoY)			2.5%
13:00	PLN Consumer Price Index (MoM)			0.5%
18:00	USD Baker Hughes US Oil Rig Count			747
20:30	USD CFTC Oil NC net positions		584.9K	601.8K
20:30	USD CFTC Gold NC net positions		$101.9K	$113.8K
20:30	USD CFTC USD NC net positions		$92.4K	$83.2K
20:30	GBP CFTC GBP NC net positions		£27.4K	£20.4K
20:30	JPY CFTC JPY NC net positions		¥-103.0K	¥-114.4K
20:30	EUR CFTC EUR NC net positions		€83.1K	€86.2K
20:30	AUD CFTC AUD NC net positions		$-49.0K	$-12.7K
21:00	MXN Fiscal Balance, pesos			45.32B

Author

Dhwani Mehta

FXStreet

Residing in Mumbai (India), Dhwani is a Senior Analyst and Manager of the Asian session at FXStreet. She has over 10 years of experience in analyzing and covering the global financial markets, with specialization in Forex and commodities markets.

EUR/USD onsolidates around mid-1.1800s as traders keenly await FOMC Minutes

The EUR/USD pair struggles to capitalize on the previous day's goodish rebound from the 1.1800 neighborhood, or a one-and-a-half-week low, and consolidates in a narrow band during the Asian session on Wednesday. Spot prices currently trade just below mid-1.1800s, nearly unchanged for the day.

GBP/USD bounces off lows, retargets 1.3550

After bottoming out just below the 1.3500 yardstick, GBP/USD now gathers some fresh bids and advances to the 1.3530-1.3540 band in the latter part of Tuesday’s session. Cable’s recovery comes as the Greenback surrenders part of its advance, although it keeps the bullish bias well in place for the day.

Gold bounces back toward $4,900, looks to FOMC Minutes

Gold is attempting a bounce from the $4,850 level, having touched a one-week low on Tuesday. Signs of progress in US–Iran talks dented demand for the traditional safe-haven bullion, weighing on Gold in early trades. However, rising bets for more Fed rate cuts keep the US Dollar bulls on the defensive and act as a tailwind for the non-yielding yellow metal. Traders now seem reluctant ahead of the FOMC Minutes, which would offer cues about the Fed's rate-cut path and provide some meaningful impetus.

DeFi could lift crypto market from current bear phase: Bitwise

Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan hinted that the decentralized finance sector could lead the crypto market out of the current bear phase, citing Aave Labs’ latest community proposal as a potential signal of good things to come.

UK jobs market weakens, bolstering rate cut hopes

In the UK, the latest jobs report made for difficult reading. Nonetheless, this represents yet another reminder for the Bank of England that they need to act swiftly given the collapse in inflation expected over the coming months.

Ripple slides to $1.45 as downside risks surge

Ripple edges lower at the time of writing on Tuesday, from the daily open of $1.48, as headwinds persist across the crypto market. A short-term support is emerging at $1.45, but a buildup of bearish positions could further weaken the derivatives market and prolong the correction.