On Monday, the British pound lost further ground for the greenback (USD), pushing the GBP/USD major into daily lows near the 1.4370 handle. The pair is trading defensively in a market dominated by a major offer in riskier assets and a drop in the USD bid tone across the board. Last week’s surge has not been fully corrected yet, the USD being unable to sustain the trend highs at the 1.4500 level.
On Tuesday, the crescent buying tone surrounding the Aussie is maintaining its course, the AUD/USD pair passing over the resistance line at 0.7600 and posting fresh daily highs. The spot managed a come-back from Monday’s low, after two negative sessions following last week’s high to the 0. 7700 thresholds. Earlier in yesterday’s session, the market assimilated Governor Steven’s press release as non-dovish, sending the AUD/USD up and supporting the direction. Regarding the data dimension, the House Price Index was published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics showing a 0.2% rise on a quarterly basis and surpassing expectations.
The EUR/USD major is still under pressure, being now traded below the 1.1200 handle as investors are under the influence of the impact generated by the Brussels terrorist attacks, the incident blinding investors towards the better-than-expected IFO in Germany and the Eurozone PMI (Purchasing Managers Index). The attacks triggered a safe reflex, the demand in treasuries and USD going up. Because of this, the pair posted fresh daily lows in the 1.1188 area but recovered slightly at almost 1.1200. Regarding the figures, the German Ifo Index (the current assessment indicator, the public expectations and the business climate) turned up higher than expected, while the Eurozone preliminary PMI also came out better than anticipated. The focus remains still on Brussels for the time being.
In the UK, the ONS (Office for National Statistics) released yesterday the latest inflation figures. The data shows an unchanged value, despite the expectation of a rise, but explained by the drop in bicycle prices. The headline CPI (Consumer Price Index) rose 0.2% on a monthly basis and 0.3% on a yearly basis, both under their forecasts. The core inflation matched expectations and printed 1.2% on a yearly basis.
