Forex Today: GBP weaker after London attacks, Aussie gains on Chinese data; UK services PMI eyed
A weekend attack, which killed seven after a van mowed down pedestrians on London Bridge, triggered a fresh wave of global risk-aversion trade at the start of a new trading week and boosted demand for traditional safe-haven assets. Despite of the initial reaction, the EUR/USD, GBP/USD and USD/JPY major held within Friday's trading range amid modest greenback recovery. The key US Dollar Index has managed to bounce off from its lowest level since the US Presidential election in November touched in wake of Friday's softer May jobs report. Meanwhile, the Caixin Services PMI from China rose to a four-month high level of 52.8 during May also contributed towards improving investors' risk appetite and helped the Australian Dollar to build on Friday's strong up-move.
With the German and French markets closed in observance of Whit Monday, market participants would look forward to the release of UK services PMI for some short-term trading impetus. Later during the NA session, the US economic data - revised nonfarm productivity, ISM non-manufacturing PMI and factory orders data, would also be looked upon to grab some short-term trading opportunities.
Main topics in Asia
Saudi's OilMin: Will consider bigger production cuts in July - TASS
Russia's TASS news agency published weekend’s comments from the Saudi Arabian oil minister Al-Falih. The OPEC’s monitoring committee meets in Russia in July.
Australia’s Company Gross Operating Profits decline in Q1, but beat estimates
Australia’s Company Gross Operating Profits index dropped in the March quarter, arriving at 6%, when compared to 20.1% seen in the fourth quarter and 5.0% expectations.
Saudi Arabia cuts ties with Qatar for "protection of national security"- RTRS
Reuters reporting headlines from Saudi Arabia’s state news agency, citing that Saudi Arabia cuts ties with Qatar, says this is for protection of national security.
AUD/USD at session highs as China service activity expands at fastest pace in 4 months
AUD/USD jumped to a session high of 0.7447 after the Caixin China services PMI printed at 52.8; the fastest pace of expansion in 4 months.
World Bank: Trade, manufacturing to boost 2017 global growth - RTRS
In its latest report published on Sunday, the World Bank maintained its forecast that global growth will improve to 2.7% this year, Reuters reports.
Key Focus ahead
EUR/USD: Eyes on EUR/GBP ahead of UK election and ECB
The EUR/USD pair extended its corrective slide in Asia, after having peaked at seven-month tops of 1.1285 on the back of poor NFP data-led massive USD sell-off across the board.
GBP/USD - Is UK services PMI a non-event?
The GBP/USD gapped lower in Asia as investors brace up for the general elections in the UK. The pair clocked a low of 1.2851 in Asia following the weekend’s London Bridge terror attack.
USD/JPY stages a comeback in Asia, will it last ahead of US data?
The USD/JPY pair bounces-off a dip to fresh six-week lows struck at 110.31 at Tokyo-open, and now consolidates the Asian recovery above 110.50 levels as we head towards early Europe.
Gold: Net bullish positions rise to the highest in 4 weeks - CFTC
According to the latest Commitment of Traders (COT) data released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Friday, net bullish positions in gold rose for the second straight week, hitting the highest level in four weeks.
USD long positions reduced, EUR shorts cut - ANZ
The research team at ANZ points out that according to the CFTC positioning data for the week ending 30 May 2017, leveraged funds were net sellers of USD for the second consecutive week.