EUR At 4 Month Low & European Stocks Broadly Lower As Cyprus Debates

Most of the European stocks fell after EU gives Cyprus ultimatum to accept their deal by March 25th or have their emergency banking funds stopped. The EURO STOXX has seen its lowest level in 4 months extended, with 430 of its equities dropping and just 138 gaining in European trading session

German Growth
German business confidence is at its highest point in nearly a year displaying signs that overall Europes biggest economy is on its way back to real growth. According to the Ifo institute, the figures from the survey that measures sentiment from 7000 business executives, will advance to 107.8 from 107.4 in the previous month. This is the fifth month of gains and the highest point in almost a year.

EUR Decline
Meanwhile the EUR is only 0.4% away from its lowest low in nearly 4 months. This comes after the ECB announcement regarding the cessation of emergency funding to the troubled Mediterranean Island.

Stocks
Asian stocks are trading mixed as investors remain cautious about the event sin Cyrpus aswell as a coupl of days of falling US stock markets.

In overnight trading the Nikkei 225 dropped 1.44 per cent after new BOJ Governor Kuroda failed to enlighten with his plans for the aggressive monetary easing measure she has been pledging in his debut speech as governor. Hong Kong Hang Seng dropped 0.24 per cent and the Shanghai Composite gained 0.22 per cent.

US stocks declined yesterday for the third day running as traders stepped away from stocks and moved to the safe haven USD and JPY currencies. At the session close the DJIA closed down 0.62 per cent, the S&P 500 closed down 0.83 per cent and the NASDAQ finished 0.97 per cent. While labor news from US was positive the manufacturing data was negative.

Data from the Eurozone was also weak with the Manufacturing PMI at its lowest level for 3 months at 46.6 from 47.9 in the previous months. German PMI dropped to 48.9 from 50.3 in Feb. During the afternoon session EURO STOXX declined by 0.75 per cent, the French CAC 40 by 1.11 per cent and the German DAX 30 by 0.79per cent.

Forex
EUR held against the USD today, trading at almost its lowest level for 4 months. The EUR/USD touched its low of 1.2889 in overnight trading. The USD gained slightly against the JPY in overnight trading in profit taking. The pair gained 0.02 per cent to trade at 94.93. AUD/USD pair declined by 0.11 per cent this morning as market participants begin to doubt the RBA will lower interest rates.

Commodities
Oil us up on information that OPEC will trim off excessive oil shipments in the forthcoming weeks. Crude oil for May delivery added 0.18 per cent to $92.61 a barrel. Meanwhile gold prices were down in the Asian session as market players start taking profits as the precious metal nears a 1 month high. Gold for April delivery added 0.01 per cent to $1614 a troy ounce.