Forex

The Bank of Japan will hold open buying assets to January 2014

Asian and European trading sessions:

Euro: The EUR / USD pair rose to $ 1.3355 during the Asian session and continued at the beginning of the European one when the released data showed that the level of confidence among German investors rose in January to its highest level for the last 2.5 years, adding a sign that Europe's largest economy is gaining momentum. The single currency was also supported by the published information that the Bundesbank’s representative has denied rumors that Mr.Weidmann was planning to step down as president of the Central bank of Germany. The EUR / USD couple showed vigorous trading dynamics while publication of the above mentioned news; the pair rose to $ 1.3371 then fell sharply to $ 1.3266 where it rebounded back to the level of  $ 1.3360.

British Pound: The GBP / USD pair rose to $ 1.5870 even despite the fact that the published data showed a sharp drop in the balance of industrial orders. As it was revealed, the CBI Trends Total Orders fell in January to the level of -20 compared to -12 in December and expectations of the -11. In addition, the CBI Trends Selling price grew to 21 value where the forecasts were at the level of 16. The GBP / USD pair was able to update its recent highs by hitting the $ 1.5880 level during the European session.

Japanese Yen: The yen rose against the dollar, significantly rebounding from the 3-years low level after the Bank of Japan said that it will start buying assets worth about 13 trillion yen per month from January to January 2014. The fact immediately disappointed many investors who expected the more decisive actions. The USD / JPY pair during the European session fell to the Y88.35 area. In overall, the Japan's currency has increased by at least 0.25% against all 16 major counterparts. In addition, the Board of the Bank approved by seven-to- two the decision on introduction of the inflation target of 2% instead of the current benchmark of 1% and for this reason to ease even more its monetary policy. Mr. Abe, however, criticized this decision calling it as too weak commitment.

American trading session:

Euro: The euro during the session fell against weak statistics from the U.S. country. The volume of Existing Home Sales unexpectedly fell by 1% in monthly term to 4.94 million. One more negative brought the report Chicago Fed Nat Activity Index the performance of which showed decrease to 0.02 points thus revealing slowed activity in December.

Japanese Yen: The Yen did not show any signs of weakness at this session as well and continued trading around its highs against the dollar on background of the decision of the Bank of Japan to hold open buying assets to January 2014.\

Canadian Dollar: The USD / CAD pair was trading in the area of ??the opening at CAD 0.9925 ahead of tomorrow's meeting of the Bank of Canada’s for interest rates in the country. The Canadian dollar suffered slight losses against the U.S. dollar after the release of data on retail sales in Canada. The results showed that the index rose by 0.2 % in monthly term, however, fell by 0.3% in monthly term excluding automobiles’ sales.

Gold: After the Bank of Japan announced measures to stimulate the economy the gold futures got one more positive move and rose in the New York trading session. The demand for the precious metal has been increased; the February’s gold futures strengthened to 1695.80 dollars per ounce.

Oil: The February futures price of U.S. light crude oil WTI rose to 96.36 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after the business confidence in Germany improved in January, more than expected, reaching its highest level in nearly three years.