FX round-up: Euro/dollar, at nine-month lows, may be headed lower
The US dollar notched nine-month highs versus the European single currency in the wake of stronger-than-expected data on US housing starts on Tuesday.
The above came as traders positioned themselves for the release of the latest Fed minutes, on Wednesday, a speech by Fed chair Janet Yellen on Friday and the results of the latest global manufacturing sector surveys on Thursday.
In parallel, front month Brent crude futures were down by 0.01% at $101.51 per barrel on the ICE, near a 14-month low.
The euro/dollar was thus 0.34% lower at 1.3319 by the end of trading. Tuesday's close below 1.3333 may see the currency pair headed lower, first to 1.3295, the November 2013 low followed by the September lows of 1.3105, technical analysts at Commerzbank pointed out in a note issued earlier in the session.
Cable was knocked lower by 0.66% to 1.6618 - itself a four month low - by a weaker than expected reading on consumer prices in Britain. CPI advanced by just 1.6% year-on-year in July, well below the previous month's reading of 1.9%.
Investors are eager to find out if the minutes of the Monetary Policy Committee's last policy meeting, due out on Wednesday, reveal the first dissenting vote from one of its members.
That would mark a first since Governor Mark Carney took over at the helm of the monetary authority in the summer of 2013.
Dollar/yen continued to follow through on its recent bounce higher, gaining 0.33% to 102.91 and nearing 2014 resistance at 102.93, as was also pointed out by the aforementioned German broker.
AB