Archived IMT (2009.12.08)

UK Industrial production, Bank of Canada's interest rate decision & EIA oil inventories will be the key items in todays FX trading agenda. UK Oct Indus prod (9:30 GMT) exp +0.5% from +1.6%, manuf output exp -7.2% from -9.3%. BoC announcement (14:00 GMT) exp to keep rates unchanged at 0.25% but watch out for the language on growth forecast & currency strength, which has shed more ink over the past 3 announcements. GBPUSD broke below yesterdays 1.6360 target, before recovering to 1.6480. Resistance stands at 1.6580, with downside seen starting at 1.6290, followed by 1.6150. But GBP appears technically more robust against NZD and AUD w/ more upside seen ahead. EURUSD not out of the technical woods as it remains less than half a cent away from the key $1.48 support. With EURUSD making up 57% of the USD index, $1.58 in EURUSD and 76 in USDX must be closely watched as the gateway for possible USD gains. Ashraf is on travel schedule in Asia so updates will be on less regular frequency.