The European Central Bank agreed to exchange Greek bonds for new securities.
Asian and European trading sessions:
Euro: The EUR / USD pair fell to $ 1.2997 mark during the Asian trading session on the background of eve of German and Italian leaders’ a meeting. The meeting is going to be held tomorrow and the leaders will discuss on granting the second package of assistance to Greece.US Dollar: The dollar was supported by the announcement of Moody’s Investors Service agency which placed the ratings of Goldman Sachs Group, Bank of America Corp, Citigroup, and three other international financial institutions to the list for reviewing of possible downgrade. In addition, the U.S. dollar rose against major currencies against the negative dynamics of stock markets.
Australian Dollar: The Australian dollar grew after the report on an employment in Australia, which recorded that the 46.3K job positions were created in January. The surge in this number might trigger the RBA to increase the interest rate.
American trading session:
Euro: The euro pulled sharply back to previous day highs on the backdrop of published information that the European Central Bank agreed to exchange Greek bonds for the new securities within the assistance program for this country.
British Pound: The pound demonstrated today its best performance against the dollar after British consumer confidence recorded an improvement in January. In details, the confidence index reached 47 values compare to forecasted 40, which was considered as a big jump. On the news, the GBP / USD couple strengthened to $1.5810 area.
Oil: The WTI Oil futures grew to 102.69 after the report that the European Central Bank is preparing an exchange of Greek bonds for the new securities.
Gold: The price of gold strengthened against the dollar on positive news. The cost of the February gold futures recorded the value of 1727.0 dollars per ounce as the close price for today.