Forex: GBP/USD around 1.5440 ahead of minutes

The sterling is bouncing off overnight lows around 1.5430 ahead of the BoE minutes due later. The GBP is posed to remain under pressure following the minutes as market participants expect their tone to be in the dovish camp, thus extending the bearishness.

At the moment, GBP/USD is up 0.09% at 1.5439 with the next hurdle at 1.5544 (high Feb.14) followed by 1.5550 (high Feb.15) and then 1.5598 (MA10d).
On the other hand, a dip below 1.5438 (low Feb.18) would target 1.5414 (low Jul.13) and then 1.5393 (low Jul.12).

Feb 20, 2013

Germany: Producer Price Index grows more than expected in January

The annual Producer Price Index climbed 1.7% in January, up from 1.5% in December and above expectations of +1.2%, Destatis reported on Wednesday. Month-over-month PPI increased 0.8%, compared with the 0.3% fall and above forecasts of growing 0.3%.

Asian markets rise, Korea outperforms and Japan up ahead of BoJ

The new BoJ Governor will be nominated soon and investors saw it as a chance to sell more Yen and embrace equities. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rose +0.84%. The top performer of the session was, however, South Korea's Kospi as it gained +1.95%. Mainland China's Shanghai Composite edged higher by +0.60% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose +0.42%. Indexes in Malaysia, India and Indonesia moved were somewhat pressured.