Wednesday, September 30, 2009 12:17:00 PM
* 30 Sep 09: 16:16 GMT (LDN) - FX NOW! USD Index Flows - IMF snapshot shows USD drops as % of total reserves in Q2 2009
A report that may be of some interest has come over Reuters. the IMF released a report that during Q2 2009, USD as a percentage of total reserves fell from 65% to 62.8%. The decline comes in the context of a climb in total reserves during the quarter by 4.8% to USD6.8 trln. The chart above shows what the USD Index did during the time period highlighted. It is worth noting that the USD index has continued to fall, which may suggest that whatever is happening to total reserves, the USD is likely to be an even smaller percentage once the Q3 data is compiled and released. M.B.
* 30 Sep 09: 15:35 GMT (NYC) - FX NOW! AUD/USD, USD/CAD Flows - Crude oil bounce helping commodity currencies
Since the release of what was a mixed bag on the EIA inventory data report, crude oil rallied to USD68.45 from USD66.25 and has helped commodity currencies AUD and CAD take back losses. In terms of the EIA data, the report showed a larger than expected rise in crude stocks while gasoline fell further than expected and distillates were up by less than anticipated. Equities are now starting to drift off lows but will need more momentum to break AUD/USD's high of 0.8837 and USD/CAD's 1.0712 low. SI
* 30 Sep 09: 15:11 GMT (NYC) - FX NOW! EUR/USD, GBP/USD Flows - No great excitement at fixing
No great excitement on EUR or GBP at the month/quarter end fixing. Cable is off lows of 1.5946 but bounce is not gathering much steam. EUR is near 1.4620/30 as equities hover near lows, but eye crude oil which has advanced in the wake of the EIA inventory report and could boost energy sector stocks (and the overall index), which would thereby give EUR a nudge. SI
