Asia Session Recap

Daily Forex Fundamentals | Written by Forex.com | Aug 21 08 05:31 GMT |

The Dollar lost a little ground, but surely not its luster….This session we saw a rash of profit taking from long dollar positions as the EUR/USD gained a full handle from its NY lows. The Dollar as you may know, has been on a whirlwind rise as of late on the back of traders abandoning long positions in the Euro, commodities, and other higher yielding currencies. EUR/USD made an early low of 1.4730 and just went north from there, hitting a 1.4784 high before settling into a groove about 10 pips lower. As recent jumps in oil and gold have surely dented the Greenback along with continued fears in the US of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac failing, this has been countered with the view that the slowing global economy will likely lead to rate cuts in Europe and the Pacific, while the US will be gearing up to hike rates. Adding to the ire of those long the Euro currency is its failure to make any gains in tandem with recent gains in oil and gold. For this past year the correlation between oil and the EUR/USD has been such that the strengthening of oil would surely grease the wheels of a positive move up for the pair.

USD/JPY was lower for the session, albeit not much, on the Dollar's hiccup and the slew of expiring options this week. The pair opened near its high of 109.86 and found a floor at the 109.55 level. EUR/JPY continues to churn in the 161.50 to 162.50 range, with a session high a touch under 162.20 and a session low near 161.70.

GBP/USD has been floating like a hapless specter over the past week in a range of 185.50 and 187.50. The unidirectional trading continued after yesterday's dovish data and the continued feebleness of the BoE as no member seems to be on the same page. Prior to the UK retail sales data later we have the pair at 1.8650, up almost 50 pips on the session.

Look for moves in the London session with a cavalcade of data including PMI in Euro Zone, France and Germany, as well as the UK retail sales mentioned above.

8/21/2008  6:00  GE  German Finance Ministry Publishes Monthly Report For July 21-Aug      
8/21/2008  6:15  SZ  Trade Balance                                            JUL  2.41B  2.00B
8/21/2008  7:00  FR  PMI Manufacturing                                    AUG P 47.1  47
8/21/2008  7:00  FR  PMI Services                                            AUG P  47.5  47.5
8/21/2008  7:15  SZ  Producer & Import Prices (MoM)                            JUL  0.60%  0.30%
8/21/2008  7:15  SZ  Producer & Import Prices (YoY)                            JUL  4.50%  4.60%
8/21/2008  7:30  GE  PMI Manufacturing                                    AUG A 50.9  50.5
8/21/2008  7:30  GE  PMI Services                                            AUG A 53.1  52.1
8/21/2008  8:00  EC  PMI Manufacturing                                    AUG A 47.4  47
8/21/2008  8:00  EC  PMI Services                                            AUG A 48.3  48
8/21/2008  8:00  EC  PMI Composite                                            AUG A 47.8  47.7
8/21/2008  8:30  UK  Retail Sales (MoM)                                    JUL  -3.90%  -0.20%
8/21/2008  8:30  UK  Retail Sales (YoY)                                    JUL  2.20%  1.80%

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