Euro was little changed against the dollar after a big drop on Friday. Markets began the week with a cautious mood after a dent in sentiment last week following disappointing German retail sales data and Spain announcing its decision to increase its debt to GDP target in excess if what had previously been agreed to with the EU. Spain’s 2012 budget aims to reduce its deficit to GDP ratio to 5.8 percent instead of 4.4 percent.
Looking ahead, focus will turn to euro zone retail sales data due later today. The forecast is for a drop, which if materializes, will be the third decline for three months in a row, confirming that the euro zone debt crisis is hurting the region’s economic growth. Meanwhile, investors will probably take a pause on the euro to wait on the results of the PSI Greek bond swap deal concluding at the end of this week.
EURUSD traded mostly sideways during the Asian session, opening at 1.3190 and hovering at a two week low of 1.3181. Against the yen, euro was weaker. EURJPY opened in Asia at 107.85 and drifted lower to 107.10.
Yen also gained against the U.S. dollar, as USDJPY eased off a nine-month high hit last week. The pair rose too fast and it was due for a pullback for profit taking. USDJPY declined to 81.19 from the session high of 81.85.
Market sentiment in Asia was also dented after comments from Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao who said early this morning that the Chinese government has lowered its target economic growth to 7.5 percent this year, the lowest goal since 2004, after eight straight years of keeping the symbolic target at 8.0 percent.
Worries about slower growth in China weighed on the Australian dollar because China is a major export market for Australia. The lower commodity demand due to slower Chinese and global growth pressured the commodity-linked aussie. AUDUSD eased off a seven-month high of last week 1.0854 to fall to 1.0702.
By clicking “Continue”, you agree to the default cookie settings on our website.
Trading Point uses cookies to ensure that we provide you with the best experience while visiting our website. Some of the cookies are needed to provide essential features, such as login sessions, and cannot be disabled. Other cookies help us improve our website’s performance and your experience through personalising content, providing social media features and analysing our traffic. Such cookies may also include third-party cookies, which might track your use of our website. You may change your cookie settings at any time.
Read more, or change your cookie settings.
What are Cookies?
Cookies are small data files. When you visit a website, the website sends the cookie to your computer. Your computer stores it in a file located inside your web browser.
Cookies do not transfer viruses or malware to your computer. Because the data in a cookie does not change when it travels back and forth, it has no way to affect how your computer runs, but they act more like logs (i.e. they record user activity and remember stateful information) and they get updated every time you visit a website.
We may obtain information about you by accessing cookies, sent by our website. Different types of cookies keep track of different activities. For example, session cookies are used only when a person is actively navigating a website. Once you leave the website, the session cookie disappears.
Why are cookies useful?
We use functional cookies to analyse how visitors use our website, as well as track and improve our website’s performance and function. This allows us to provide a high-quality customer experience by quickly identifying and fixing any issues that may arise. For example, we might use cookies to keep track of which website pages are most popular and which method of linking between website pages is most effective. The latter also helps us to track if you were referred to us by another website and improve our future advertising campaigns.
Another use of cookies is to store your log in sessions, meaning that when you log in to the Members Area to deposit funds, a "session cookie" is set so that the website remembers that you have already logged in. If the website did not set this cookie, you will be asked for your login and password on each new page as you progress through the funding process.
In addition, functional cookies, for example, are used to allow us to remember your preferences and identify you as a user, ensure your information is secure and operate more reliably and efficiently. For example, cookies save you the trouble of typing in your username every time you access our trading platform, and recall your preferences, such as which language you wish to see when you log in.
Here is an overview of some of the functions our cookies provide us with:
This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. ("Google"). Google Analytics uses analytical cookies placed on your computer, to help the website analyze a user's use of the website. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website (including your IP address) may be transmitted to and stored by Google on their servers. Google may use this information to evaluate your use of the website, to compile reports on website activity and to provide other services related to website activity and internet usage. Google may also transfer this information to third parties, where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on behalf of Google. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held. By using this website, you give your consent to Google to process data about you in the manner and for the purposes set out above.
Change Settings
Please select which types of cookies you want to be stored on your device.
We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.
Read more or change your cookie settings.