Forex Today: GBP extends rebound amid light trading, ECB Draghi eyed

Forex today in Asia was very calm as holiday-thinned trading persisted, with China on a 3-day break in observance of the Dragon Boat festival. The pound was the strongest in the Asian trades, extending the steady recovery witnessed in the last US session. Meanwhile, the Aussie suffered the most amid poor risk sentiment, fuelled by negative Asian equities and weaker commodities’ prices, especially copper. The greenback consolidated near five-day tops of 99.47 against its main competitors, awaiting fresh impetus from the key macro releases lined up for release in the week ahead.

We have an eventful week ahead, with plenty of risk events from across the globe, however, the Aussie capex data, CAD GDP, US ISM and NFP figures are expected to emerge the main market movers this week. As for today macro news, we have nothing of relevance, except for the Eurozone money supply and ECB Draghi’s speech, as the UK and US markets are closed in observance of their respective National holidays.

Main topics in Asia

Weekend polls confirm May's Conservatives lead narrowing

Over the weekend, varies polls on the upcoming UK general election were published, with the main take-away being that May's Conservative party lead is narrower than previously thought.

North Korea fires another missile - Yonhap News

According to Yonhap News Agency, South Korean military has confirmed that North Korea fired off what appeared to be a ballistic missile.

Plenty of headlines from the G7 weekend meeting - ANZ

Analysts at ANZ noted the G7 meeting from the weekend and an alliance to fight protectionism.

President Trump tweets, "massive tax cut is "moving along"

President Trump has returned to the White House from his first international trip and now faces challenges, including Jared Kushner's role in the ongoing Russian probe and delivering the ‘Yuuuge’ tax reform. 

Key Focus ahead

EUR/USD set to break key support near 1.1160 ahead of Draghi?

The EUR/USD pair extends its bearish consolidative mode in early Europe, with the bears now looking to accelerate the downside below a break of the key support near 1.1160.

UK: Watching the polls again – ANZ

In view of analysts at ANZ, it seems like a never-ending theme these days, but with the UK election only a few weeks away, markets are back in poll-watching mode, and the latest YouGov poll gave them plenty to ponder.

A busy week ahead for the dollar: what will nonfarm payrolls have to offer? - Nomura

Analysts at Nomura published an insightful look at the busy week ahead in the US expecting a strong May employment report with healthy nonfarm employment growth, a tick-down in the unemployment rate and steady gains in average hourly earnings. 

Fed rate hike coming soon – Goldman Sachs

The analysis team at Goldman Sachs explain that the recently published minutes to the May FOMC meeting mirrored the statement in downplaying the weak Q1 GDP print and the soft March inflation data, and also noted that most participants judged that “it would soon be appropriate” for the FOMC to hike again.