Major Currency Pairs Flounder on Another Slow Day

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Alan Penny

30 May 2019

3 min read

Although the US Dollar Index remained strong throughout, the day was characterized by losses across the board for many of the major trading pairs. Fiber, the Aussie pair, and the Canadian Dollar all struggled on a day when several of Europe’s key markets were closed for Ascension Day. Lower than expected data coming from several of the nations has been attributed as the cause for Thursday’s slight pullbacks.

EUR/USD Continues to Struggle

The EUR/USD pairing has endured a more difficult week than most. Make that a more difficult month or more. The pair has been battling on all fronts of late. The ongoing Brexit dilemma combined with the Euro-skeptic results from this week’s EU elections has done the pair no favors at all. Weekly lows had been reached before the pair recovered slightly to trade at 1.1130 at the time of writing.

This number has not been helped today by the release of lower than expected HICP and Consumer Price Index data coming from Spain this morning. Both the month on month, and YoY figures reported were below what analysts had expected. The Euro was given a helping hand later in the day by weak US pending home sales figures.

EURUSD - May 31st

EURUSD Chart – May 31st

Loonie Falls From Monthly High

The USD/CAD pairing has had a strong week until today’s trading session. Yesterday the pair was riding high with its highest position of the month. That was short-lived though as today’s session saw it slip almost right back down to where it had started the week at around the 1.343 mark.

The fall in the pair was mostly oil related. Early in the day, the release of underwhelming figures from the API weekly oil stockpile helped to accelerate the decline. Positive US unemployment data helped to stem the tide a little, and the pair recovered slightly on higher than expected crude oil data later in the day from the EIA crude oil stocks change. With oil in a delicate position at the moment, the next few weeks could be something of a rollercoaster for the pair.

AUD/USD Disappoints Again

The AUD/USD had shown promise through the early Asian session. This was quickly extinguished though on the release of building permits data. This showed a negative figure of 4.7% which sent a negative ripple through the market. A figure of 0.0% had been expected.

The slump was compounded later in the day as the dollar strengthened off the back of positive employment data. This leaves the pair facing consecutive losing days. It traded at 0.6911 at the time of writing.

With all the majors losing ground, the only show of consistency today came from the US Dollar Index. It traded well throughout the day, holding its opening position and rising through the middle of the day on the positive employment data. European figures, particularly from Spain kept the index grounded, although it still managed to close at 98.18 and up for the day.

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Written By
Alan Penny

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