ForexLive European FX news wrap: Dollar gains ease up, gold holds above $2,700

Headlines:

• Weekly update on interest rate expectations
• Gold Technical Analysis – Yet another all-time high
• USD/JPY lower on the day but buyers stay in control for now
• Japan’s largest union group Rengo targets wage hikes of at least 5% for next year
• BOJ governor Ueda remarks that Japanese economy is recovering moderately
• UK September retail sales +0.3% vs -0.3% m/m expected
• Eurozone August current account balance €31.5 billion vs €39.6 billion prior
• North Korean troops reportedly shipped to Russian bases for training and likely for combat

Markets:

• GBP leads, CHF lags on the day
• European equities higher; S&P 500 futures up 0.2%
• US 10-year yields up 1.2 bps to 4.108%
• Gold up 0.6% to $2,709.82
• WTI crude down 0.4% to $70.40
• Bitcoin up 0.6% to $67,809

It was another quiet session with some light market moves at best before we get into the final stretch of the week.

The dollar is slightly on the softer side but remains in prime position to try and build on the gains so far in October. EUR/USD is up slightly by 0.2% to 1.0850 while GBP/USD is up 0.3% to 1.3045 on the day. The latter was helped by stronger UK retail sales data as well, with the pair briefly touching a high of 1.3071 earlier.

Besides that, USD/JPY saw a quick whipsaw from 149.85 to 149.58 on the back of some BOJ headlines which reaffirmed that the central bank will stay sidelined in October. The pair was then quickly bought back up to keep around 150.00 now, down 0.1% on the day.

The antipodeans are also up slightly with Chinese stocks having rallied back alongside the yuan earlier in the day. A more positive risk mood is also helping, with European indices pulled higher alongside US futures during the session.

There weren’t any major headlines to guide markets, so this is all roughly a continuation of sentiment during the month. Take gold for example, as it runs up above $2,700 to fresh record highs once more.

The dollar might be down slightly but it doesn’t take away from the upside momentum in the weeks before, at least not yet.

Have a great weekend, everyone.

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.