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Dollar stole eyes on today’s Asian session

ecPulse
2013-06-20 07:32AM UTC

American dollar recorded a series of inclines versus major currencies during today’s session after Fed’s Bank meeting which noted that the bank will cut easing steps dramatically till the end of the year to be ended in 2014.

Moreover, despite the current incline for American dollar, its worth to mention that currencies are expected to show hesitated moves during the upcoming period according to the upcoming economic performance in the U.S.

Euro fell to the lowest in week versus American dollar, where the EUR/USD pair recorded low of 1.3246, after recording 1.3395 before the meeting. AUD/USD pair also fell to record its lowest in ten days at 1.5425.

USD/JPY pair inclined today to record high of 97.17, the highest in week, while eyes are still monitoring the pair movements to weigh if the pair will resume its profits or not.

Australian dollar fell to its lowest since 2010 against its counterpart American dollar to record low of 0.9231, where the RBA still sees that Aussie is overvalued.

New Zealand’s dollar fell also against dollar in a downward momentum trend, where the NZD/USD pair recorded low of 0.7834.

5 out of 8 top UK banks fail to pass PRA stress tests: BOE

Fx News Today
2013-06-20 07:13AM UTC

Bank of England said that five out of eight U.K. banks failed to pass the Prudential Regulation Authority`s (PRA) capital shortfall exercise.

Britain`s top banks have been told by the BoE on Thursday that they must raise as much as 13.7 billion pounds between them to close a 27 billion-pound shortfall in their balance sheets.

The banks that failed to pass the stress tests were Royal Bank of Scotland , Lloyds Banking Group , Barclays , Co-operative and Nationwide .

These five banks must raise billion more in fresh capital to cover their risks, according to the regulator.

Here are the bank names and how much they need to raise by the end of this year to withstand possible losses on loans, fines and risk models:

- Royal Bank of Scotland/ 13.6 billion pounds

- Lloyds Banking Group/ 8.6 billion pounds

- Barclays/ 3 billion pounds

- Co-operative Bank/ 1.5 billion pounds

- Nationwide/ 0.4 billion pounds

PRA said that these five banks are responsible for capital shortfall 27.1 billion pounds, higher than previous estimate of 25 billion pounds.

Gold tumbles on Fed stimulus outlook, dollar shines

Fx News Today
2013-06-20 06:33AM UTC
Gold prices plunged for the fourth day on Thursday hitting its lowest level since mid-April, weighed down by the dollar`s rally after the Federal Reserve signaled it would slow the pace of bond purchases later this year as the U.S. economy, particularly its labor market, are recovering. As of (09:22 GMT+3), gold for immediate delivery plunged 2.14% or 29.46 points on Wednesday to trade at $ 1,344.11 an ounce after opening at $1,350.40, having earlier hit a high of $1,351.10, and a low of $1,339.34. On Wednesday, The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) agreed to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged at a record low between 0.0% and 0.25%, while it also maintained its monthly $85 billion of bond purchases, with the U.S. economy and particularly its labor market are recovering. In a press conference, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Wednesday the central bank may reduce the pace of bond purchases modestly later in 2013, and may end the purchases around mid-2014. The reduction in stimulus will occur only if the economy shows signs of “substantial progress.” The Fed`s statements put it ahead of the world`s other big central banks in reducing stimulus measures. As for other precious metals: - Silver fell 2.76% to trade around $ 21.12 - Platinum lost 1.03% to $ 1,411.05 - Palladium dropped 1.26% down to $ 687.15 The greenback extended gains on Thursday after rising broadly in the previous session after the Federal Reserve signaled it would start to dial down its $85 billion monthly bond buying program as the economic outlook improves. The USDIX is currently trading around 81.73 after opening at 81.56, having so far hit a high of 81.81 and a low of 81.45. Holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust, the world`s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, fell below 1,000 tones on Wednesday for the first time in 4 years. Markets had additional after the flash HSBC Purchasing Managers` Index showed activity in China`s vast manufacturing sector weakened further in June to a 9-month low as new orders faltered, heightening risks that a second quarter slowdown could be sharper than expected.

Crude slips on Fed easing, China PMI and rising stockpiles

Fx News Today
2013-06-20 06:45AM UTC
Crude oil slipped for a second day on U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke hints that asset-purchases could end later this year, China’s PMI more-than-expected drop to 48.3 and crude inventories` unexpected rise  last week. Bernanke said Wednesday the Federal Reserve will maintain its bond-buying program for now and start reducing bond purchases later this year and end them in 2014 if the economy continue to improve and unemployment will decline at a pace that the Fed expect. In China, the world’s second largest oil consumer, the preliminary manufacturing PMI released by HSBC showed activity in the sector will be the lowest since Sep. if confirmed on July 1 when the final reading is released, darkening the outlook for oil demand. - Crude is trading as of this writing around $96.58 a barrel after falling $1.66 - Brent is trading around $104.40 a barrel after falling $1.72 Also weighing on prices is the Energy Information Administration report that showed U.S. crude inventories unexpectedly rose last week by 313,000 barrels. Gasoline inventories rose by 183,000 barrels and distillates, including heating oil and diesel, fell by 489,000 barrels. Markets will be closely watching today Germany’s PMI data, Spain’s bond auction, UK’s retail sales, the eurozone’s consumer confidence, the euro-area finance ministers meeting in Luxemburg, and the U.S.’s existing home sales, leading indicators and jobless claims. Norway`s Statoil saying that some production fields connected to the Oseberg oil field resumed work after an outage on Monday also eased the upside pressures on prices; while Iran said it plans to increase oil production by 45% by the end of 2014 to 4.5 million bpd. - Natural gas is trading at $3.939 per cubic feet after falling 0.61% - Gasoline is trading at $2.8425 a gallon after falling 1.73% - Heating oil is trading at $2.9304 a gallon after falling 1.42%