AUDUSD: The number of housing-finance approvals in Australia rose a seasonally adjusted 1.4% in November from October. The bureau said its trend estimate for the number of housing-finance approvals, which further smoothes seasonally adjusted data, rose 0.6% in November.
In a breakdown of the data, the bureau said the number of finance approvals to build houses fell a seasonally adjusted 0.4% in November and the number of approvals to buy newly built houses rose 2.0%. The number of approvals for the purchase of established houses increased 1.6%.
Australian housing finance approvals
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Period Number A$ Value
Nov 2011 46,953 13.79 Bln
Oct 2011 46,293 13.49 Bln
Nov 2010 44,873 13.54 Bln
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We expect a range for today in AUDUSD rate of 1.0270 to 1.0360 (We avoid trading the pair today)
EURUSD: Traders amassed a net $24.8 billion in bets that the euro will continue to weaken, the largest such position since at least 2007, as of Jan. 10, government data showed Friday.
The drama playing out in the euro zone, where leaders are rushing to resolve sovereign-debt issues that threaten to throw the region into recession, has wounded the euro, which traded as low as $1.26 Friday. Speculators held a net 155,195 contracts against the currency, up 9% from the prior week
The new record in pessimistic euro bets corresponded with a 10% increase in bets that the dollar will appreciate, a net total of $17 billion. As the euro has cratered over the last few months, the dollar has been the beneficiary as investors gamble that the U.S. economy has a better outlook than that of Europe.
We expect a range for today in EURUSD rate of 1.2680 to 1.2800 (Last Friday, we set to shorted EURUSD below 1.2780, hit both target. 1.2730 and 1.2640)
BUY STOP for EURUSD above 1.2700
Stop loss at 1.2670
Target at 1.2740 and 1.2780
USDJPY: Despite some disappointment surrounding the retail sales data, there should be expectations of solid near-term US demand.
The headline US payroll data was stronger than expected with an increase in non-farm payrolls of 200,000 after a revised 100,000 gain the previous month while there was another unemployment decline to 8.5% from 8.7%.
We expect a range for today in USDJPY rate of 76.60 to 77.20
We enter long USDJPY at the current market price 76.79
Stop loss at 76.65
Target 77.20 and 77.60
