ForexLive European FX news wrap: Dollar holds firm as heavier risk flows weigh

Headlines:

Markets:

CHF leads, NZD lags on the dayEuropean equities lower; S&P 500 futures down 0.4%US 10-year yields down 3.5 bps to 4.205%Gold up 1.2% to $2,331.17WTI crude up 0.1% to $78.68Bitcoin up 0.5% to $67,030

The session started with a focus on the Japanese yen, with markets taking to the more dovish decision by the BOJ to only pre-announce the tapering of their JGB purchases. The central bank said that they will only go into more detail on that in July, disappointing those expecting the decision to have come today instead.

USD/JPY was holding higher near 158.00, before extending gains to a high of 158.25 ahead of Ueda’s press conference. The pair lingered around 157.80-00 in the aftermath, before heavier risk flows weighed on market sentiment.

Equities sank while bond yields dropped as safety flows came into play and that dragged USD/JPY down to 157.00.

The dollar though, maintained a modest advance elsewhere with EUR/USD falling from 1.0720 to 1.0670. GBP/USD also fell from 1.2740 to 1.2695 before a mild bounce now to 1.2715 on the day.

The commodity currencies are the laggards as such, with AUD/USD down 0.2% to 0.6620 and NZD/USD down 0.5% to 0.6135 currently. The franc is the standout, with USD/CHF itself down 0.2% to 0.8920 on the day.

It looks like the unhealthy balance in the equities space is finally catching up to tech stocks. And that could spell for an ugly day to wrap up the week. In the bigger picture, this is very much a repeat of the runback from last month’s CPI report as well.