NEWS / Foreign Exchange

European Forex Recap

• Dow Jones Industrial average closed on Tuesday higher by 34.54 at 12.953.94

• Asian session moderately quiet with Australia and New Zealand closed in observance of the national ANZAC Day holiday.

• FX rates as of 11.15pm EST GBP/USD 2.0028/33  EUR/USD 1.3635/38  USD/JPY 118.40/43  USD/CHF 1.2010/14  USD/CAD 1.1201/06  AUD/USD 0.8298/02  NZD/USD 0.7443/47

• Nikkei 225 closed Wednesday??™s session lower by 215.61 points at 17,236-16 (2.00am EST)

• Cable being bought aggressively in early London trading from 2.0024 to a high of 2.0055 as dollars are being sold across the board (2.10am EST)

• Euro-dollar higher at 1.3652 on buying reportedly from a ???semi official??? name (2.40am EST)

• German IFO business sentiment in April 108.6 from 107.7 in March better than market expectations of 108.0. Business current conditions were 113.2 in April from 112.4 in March and business expectations were 104.3 in April fro m 103.2 in March. Euro-dollar 5 pips higher at 1.3645 (4.00am EST)

• UK preliminary Q1 GDP was +0.7q/q +2.8% y/y, just slightly higher than market expectations of +0.6% q/q. On the data release cable spiked from 2.0042 to 2.0057 before falling back to pre-data release levels (4.30am EST)

• Aussie takes a run higher but meets resistance at 0.8350, posting a high of 0.8348 (6.40am EST)  

• FX rates as at 7.00am EST GBP/USD 2.0041/46  EUR/USD 1.3647/50  USD/JPY 118.59/62  USD/CHF 1.2023/27  USD/CAD 1.1219/24  AUD/USD 0.8328/32  NZD/USD 0.7462/66

Economic data due out later today

8.30am   US Durable goods orders for March

10.00am US New Home Sales for March

2.00pm   US Feds Beige Book

5.00pm   NZ Bank of New Zealand??™s decision on New Zealand interest rates

6.45am   NZ Merchandise Trade data for March

Ranges since 5pm EST on Tuesday

GBP / USD:                 2-0007             2-0062

EUR / USD:                 1-3622             1-3658

USD / JPY:                  118-28             118-70

USD / CHF:                 1-2000             1-2043

USD / CAD                 1.1200             1.1224

AUD / USD                 0-8272             0-8342

NZD / USD                 0-7425             0-7470