EUR opened in Asia with some slight buoyancy as a result of renewed threats from Iran of a close of the straits of Homuz which ran crude oil back above $100, but EUR failed to break back above $1.3100 running into headwinds from $1.3080. EUR opened at $1.3071 and drifted in a very tight $1.3063-77 range in the Far East with traders disinterested ahead of the year end, and those that showed some appetite to get involved waiting ahead of Italian auctions today and tomorrow.
USD/JPY drifted off from early highs of Y77.92 to Y77.76 with EUR/JPY following down to Y101.66 from Y101.81 despite poor Japanese retail sales and industrial output data. AUD was also confined into a tight $1.0137-58 range rising from the lows on corporate demand but failing to retest resistance building around $1.0175. GBP eased back from $1.5674 to $1.5654 with the cross largely ignored through stg0.8339-48. There is little on the data calendar today with main interest being the Dec Swiss KOF leading indicator at 1030GMT aside from the Italian bond auctions.
EasyForexNews Research Team