• Asian session: The yen fell against the dollar

Market news

18 February 2013

Asian session: The yen fell against the dollar

00:01 United Kingdom Rightmove House Price Index (MoM) February +0.2% +2.8%

00:01 United Kingdom Rightmove House Price Index (YoY) February +2.4% +1.1%

00:30 Australia New Motor Vehicle Sales (MoM) January +2.2% -2.4%

00:30 Australia New Motor Vehicle Sales (YoY) January +17.% +10.8%


The yen fell against the dollar, extending losses that made it the worst-performing major currency in the past three months, after Group-of-20 nations refrained from censuring Japanese policies driving the decline. Two days of talks between G-20 finance ministers and central bankers ended in Moscow Feb. 16 with a statement pledging not to “target our exchange rates for competitive purposes,” without singling out Japan.

The pound slid toward a seven-month low on prospects the Bank of England will tolerate higher inflation. The Bank of England will release minutes of this month’s policy meeting on Feb. 20. The central bank left the target of its bond purchases unchanged on Feb. 7, saying inflation is likely to accelerate further in the near term and may stay above the BOE’s 2 percent target for the next two years.

The euro declined for a fourth day against the dollar ahead of Italy’s parliamentary election on Feb. 24-25. Silvio Berlusconi kicks off the week with a rally today in Milan. Berlusconi had 27.8 percent support in an SWG Institute survey published Feb. 8, compared with 33.8 percent for Pier Luigi Bersani, Berlusconi’s main rival.


EUR/USD: during the Asian session the pair fell to $1.3325.

GBP/USD: during the Asian session the pair fell to $1.5470.

USD/JPY: during the Asian session, the pair rose to Y94.20.


The European calendar gets underway at 0900GMT, with the release of the the EMU December Current account data. Also at 0900GMT, ECB Gov Council member Ewald Nowotny is set to speak, in Vienna. At 1000GMT, German Bundesbank Board member Andreas Dombret is scheduled to speakon financial stability, in Hamburg. Later, at 1100GMT, the German Bundesbank is slated to publish its latest monthly report. Monday's main set piece comes at 1430GMT, when ECB President Mario Draghi appears for his quarterly hearing before the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee of European Parliament, in Brussels. Later, at 1630GMT, Draghi speaks as ESRB Chair before the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee. Also at 1630GMT, German German Chancellor Angela Merkel will give a speech at the Chamber of Industry and Commerce Rheinhessen, in Mainz.

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