FOREX: US Dollar, Japanese Yen decline in holiday trading.

By CountingPips.com

The U.S. dollar and Japanese yen have fallen lower today in the forex markets on the U.S. federal holiday celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. The U.S. stock markets are closed today and trading in the forex market has been on light volumes.

The US Dollar has been declining versus the euro, British pound, Japanese yen, Australian dollar, Canadian dollar, Swiss franc and the New Zealand dollar as of 2:01 pm EST in the U.S. session. The British pound’s strength has continued into this week as the GBP has advanced on the dollar today by roughly 40 pips after gaining on the dollar by almost 250 pips last week.  The New Zealand and Australian dollars have also gained by approximately 40 pips on the dollar today while the Canadian dollar and Swiss franc have advanced by over 30 pips.

The Japanese yen, meanwhile, has also been on the defensive today versus the other majors will declines against the euro, British pound, Canadian dollar, Australian dollar, New Zealand dollar and the Swiss franc while the JPY has gained against the U.S. dollar.  Last week, the Japanese yen advanced against all of the other majors despite calls for the currency to decline from Government officials.

Normal forex trading will kick off again on Tuesday with a number of economic releases coming out.  See the economic highlights below.

Tuesday, January 19th:

Time              Release

9:30 GMT     GBP Consumer Price Index

9:30 GMT     GBP Retail Price Index

10:00 GMT     German ZEW Survey

13:30 GMT     CAD Leading Indicators

14:00 GMT     Bank of Canada Interest Rate Decision

14:00 GMT     US Net Long-term & Total Net TIC Flows

21:45 GMT     NZD Consumer Price Index