• Foreign exchange market. American session: the U.S. dollar mixed against the most major currencies ahead of FOMC meeting minutes

Market news

19 November 2014

Foreign exchange market. American session: the U.S. dollar mixed against the most major currencies ahead of FOMC meeting minutes

The U.S. dollar mixed against the most major currencies ahead of FOMC meeting minutes.

Housing starts in the U.S. declined 2.8% to 1.009 million annualized rate in October from a 1.038 million pace in September, missing expectations for a decrease to 1.025 million. September's figure was revised up from 1.017 million units.

Building permits in the U.S. increased 4.8% to 1.008 million annualized rate in October from a 1.031 million pace in September, exceeding expectations for a rise to 1.040 million units. September's figure was revised up from 1.018 million units.

The euro traded mixed against the U.S. dollar. The euro remained supported by yesterday's better-than-expected ZEW economic sentiment index from the Eurozone.

Eurozone's adjusted current account surplus climbed to €30.0 billion in September from €22.8 billion in August. August's figure was revised up from a surplus of €18.9 billion. Analysts had expected a surplus of €21.3 billion.

The British pound traded mixed against the U.S. dollar. Earlier, the Bank of England (BoE) released its last meeting minutes. The BoE kept its monetary policy unchanged. Two members, Ian McCafferty and Martin Weale, voted for the fourth consecutive month to raise interest rates to 0.75% from 0.5%.

The New Zealand dollar traded mixed against the U.S. dollar in the absence of any major economic reports from New Zealand.

The Australian dollar traded lower against the U.S. dollar. The Westpac/Melbourne Institute (MI) leading index for Australia was flat in October, after a 0.1% fall in September.

The Japanese yen fell against the U.S. dollar. The Bank of Japan (BoJ) released its interest rate decision today. The BoJ kept its monetary policy unchanged. The central bank will expand its monetary base at an annual pace of 80 trillion yen.

The BOJ board member Takahide Kiuchi said that it was appropriate to revert to the BoJ's monetary policy before the October 31 decision. The central bank decided on October 31 to increase its monetary base target to an annual increase of ¥80 trillion, up from ¥60-70 trillion, and to boost exchange-traded fund purchases to ¥3 trillion.

Yesterday's decision by Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe still weighed on yen. He announced a delay in the sales-tax increase for 18 months on Tuesday, and called a snap election to take place next month.

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