FTSE -8 points at 7112
DAX -3 points at 11448
CAC -2 points at 4836
Euro Stoxx 50 -3 points at 3268
Surpassing the 1.0500 level triggered massive algo orders and sent the EUR/USD up to 1.0653 from 1.0484 in a single move. Thin holiday volumes aggravated the quake. The EUR/USD consolidated between 1.0520/1.0550 following the spike in the early Asian trading session. Given the nature of the price action, a further downside correction toward 1.0500/1.0475 could be expected.
In a similar way, the US dollar plunged to 1.0064 against the Swiss franc. Rapidly, the pair traded back toward the 1.0200 area. Yet, the shock left a negative weight on the USD/CHF’s shoulder before the end of the year.
Euro crosses were softer. The euro slid 0.33% against the pound, 0.16% against the franc and 0.55% against the yen.
Despite the shock wave on the euro and the franc markets, the risk-averse investors did not return to the yen. The reason of the move was not convincing enough to rush to the safe heaven currencies. Oil and commodity currencies, as well as the Skandies were in demand, although the greenback came off its lows by the end of the Asian session.
The yen (-0.07%) has been the only loser against the US dollar in Asia. Still, the USD/JPY traded a leg lower at 116.05/116.89 in Tokyo. The broad based US dollar unwinding suggests that the 120.00 target will be postponed to next year.
Nikkei lost 0.16%, while TOPIX remained flat (+0.01%).
Hang Seng stocks (+1.11%) rose the most. Tencent (+1.23%), the owner of China’s most popular social network Wechat, and Chinese banks lead gains. Bank of China gained 1.76%.
Oil and copper firmed, while iron ore came off its record quarterly advance.
Gold advanced to $1163. The key mid-term support stands at $1175 (major 61.8% retracement on Dec’15 to Jul’16 rise).
US futures diverged positively from their UK and European peers in Asia Dow Jones futures firmed 0.25%, NASDAQ futures traded 0.33% higher.
FTSE futures (+0.08%) were flat, while European futures were traders’ least favorite. Eurostoxx futures softened 0.21%, the DAX futures lost 0.25%, hinting at a soft open in Europe.
FTSE is called 8 points softer at 7112.