EURUSD was little changed initially in Europe, continuing to be steady following from a calm Asian session. Foreign-exchange markets took a breather in the last European trading session of the week after an extremely volatile week of trading as the euro-zone debt crisis reached new heights. However by the end of the European session which overlapped with the North American open, U.S. employment data, the Non-farm payroll report, jolted the euro dollar, with EURUSD eventually heading lower than the open price. NFP indicated 80,000 jobs created in the US in October versus the 95,000 expected. September was revised up to 105,000. EURUSD headed lower to 1.3754 versus the 1.3825 open, with the Greek government vote of confidence looming tonight.
GBPUSD held onto gains into Europe after advancing 1.17 percent yesterday following the news of the Greek referendum vote being cancelled and a weaker dollar after the US Fed policy statement. After hitting a session high of 1.6043, cable dropped to 1.5978 after the disappointing US jobs data that signalled a gloomy growth outlook and dampened risk appetite.
The Canadian dollar weakened sharply after Canadian employment data showed a huge decline in jobs much lower than expectations. There was a drop of 54,000 jobs in October despite a forecast for 12,200 to be created, which was still lower than September’s 60,900 jobs, and the unemployment rate jumped to 7.3 percent from 7.1 percent. The Canadian dollar dropped for the first time in three days, losing 0.95 percent within minutes of the data as USDCAD gapped up from 1.0100 to 1.0167 within seconds and continuing to advance to 1.0196.
EURCHF jumped almost 1 percent in the European open on comments from a Swiss central bank board member who said the previous evening that the Swiss National Bank would take steps beyond the current franc cap to protect the Swiss economy if deflationary risks increase. Currently there is a floor of 1.20 francs to the euro. EURCHF rose to 1.2245 from 1.2139.
USDJPY traded in a tight range until the NFP report when it rose to 78.15 from a session low of 77.98. EURJPY fell from a high of 1.8.24 to 107.44.Euro had gained after Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou backed down on a proposed referendum on the country’s latest bailout package but as the European session was ending today and with the Greek confidence vote looming, and fears that Greece might exit the euro zone, euro headed lower.
