The pressure on the single currency increased after the speech of the ECB president Mario Draghi.
Asian and European trading sessions:
Euro: The Euro currency was under pressure against the US Dollar and Japanese Yen amid the concerns of investors that the European countries, Germany and France could lose their AAA credit ratings. These concerns arose because of the rumors that European leaders would not agree on a new plan of restraint of the debt crisis in EU this week. After the publication of the ECB decision the EUR/USD pair at first strengthened to
$1.3420 area but then rolled over and fell sharply to its daily low at $1.3290.
US Dollar: The demand for the US dollar increased today amid the falling Asian stock markets. Investors fear a slowdown in the economy in the region, increasing the demand for safe-heaven currency.
British Pound: The GBP/USD pair traded in the narrow range of $1.5693 – $1.5743 during the Asian trading session. The decision of the Bank of England regarding leaving the discount rate and the amount of quantitative easing at the same level did not have any effect on the dynamics of the British Pound.
Japanese Yen: Together with US Dollar and for the same reason of increasing demand for safe –haven assets, the Yen strengthened against the major currencies. The USD/JPY pair fell to the area of Y77.34 during the European trading session.
Australian Dollar: The Australian dollar fell against most major currencies after the report which showed the Employment Change decrease for the first time in the last three months.
Canadian Dollar: The Loonie fell steeply from its December highs against of the US Dollar, amid concerns about further spread of the European debt crisis and the decreasing demand for risky assets as well as for Oil futures.
American trading session:
The pressure on the single currency increased after the speech of the ECB president, Mario Draghi, who signaled that the European central bank does not want to increase purchases of government bonds of countries of EU region for dealing with debt crises. The EUR/USD couple reached lows at $1.3289 mark.
Oil: The WTI futures on NYMEX closed at $98 for barrel with downturn on $2.35.
Gold: The Gold futures had negative day and closed it at $1710.13 per ounce.