FX Roundup: Major crosses in mixed trading as equities edge higher

Foreign exchange trading was largely mixed on Tuesday with no dominant forex cross leading the way, as European equity markets edged higher with concerns over China easing overnight.

At 1826 GMT, the dollar was down 0.45% against the yen changing hands at JPY118.90. Concurrently, the pound was down 0.34% against the greenback exchanging at $1.4666, despite relatively positive data emerging earlier in the session.

The Markit/CIPS British construction purchasing managers’ index rose to 57.8 from 55.3 in November, beating expectations for a reading of 56. A level above 50 indicates an expansion while a reading below that signals a contraction.

Howard Archer, chief European and UK economist at IHS Global Insight, said: "This is a largely decent, reassuring survey that boosts hopes that construction output contributed to GDP growth in the fourth quarter of 2015 after being a drag in the third quarter."

Meanwhile, the euro also registered a 0.80% drop versus the US currency to change hands at $1.0744. Kit Juckes, head of forex at Societe Generale, said, “The faint possibility of a EUR/USD break to the downside is more interesting to us from the perspective of holding short sterling positions.

“Furthermore, ‘Brexit' is being more widely discussed now. Our favourite short sterling position is in GBP/JPY, which held at 175 (last year's low) on Monday. GBP/USD may test last year's low at 1.4566 soon.”

Commodity linked currency crosses also endured mixed fortunes. The Australian dollar was down 0.68% against its US counterpart exchanging at US$0.7142, along with the New Zealand dollar down 0.87% changing hands at US$0.6693.

The greenback also rose against the Canadian dollar exchanging at CAD$1.4003; a gain of 0.36%.

Finally, in Latin America, the dollar also traded higher against the Mexican peso up 0.36% changing hands at MXN17.3463, but fell 0.54%, 0.23% and 1.18% against the Colombian peso, Chilean peso and the Brazilian Real.