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The FTSE100 closed up 163.23 points at 3,926.14, whilst the FTSE 250 closed up 149.61 points at 6,373.89, and for those that are interested the FTSE Small Caps closed up 13.86 points better at 1,757.56.

A better day for the headline shares, with a trading update from Marks & Spencer giving some hope. The banks did well on the whole, and the heavyweight mining shares all made decent gains.

Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJIA was up almost 100 points at just shy of 7,622, whilst the S&P500 was up 10 points at 797, and the Nasdaq up nearly 24 points at 1,525. Wall Street had a decent start, with news data expected to show an improvement in consumer confidence in March.

Back here in London, it was the better than expected trading update from Marks & Sparks that helped the market, with the shares closing up 31.5p (12%) at 296p. M&S said like-for-like sales in the UK for the 3 months to March were down 4.2%, which whilst being lower was much better than the -7.1% for the previous 3 months. This news gave the retail sector a welcome boost, with Next closing up 69p at 1,324, Tesco closing up 17.8p at 333.4p, Sainsburys up 5.75p at 313p, and Morrisons up 9.5p at 255.5p.

The financiual sector had a better day, with bank Standard Chartered doing well, closing up 68.5p at 866.5p. Other banks followed the lead, with HSBC closing up 24.5p at 395p, Lloyds Banking Group up 5.9p at 70.7p, and RBS closing up 1.2p at 24.5p.  Barclays closed down 1.1p at 148p, though, but was only one of a couple of the top 100 that had a negative day.

On to insurance, where Admiral closed up 21.5p at 853.5p after announcing the launch of a price comparison website in Spain. This helped peers, with The Pru closing up 30p at 337p, and Aviva closing up 13.75p at 216.25p.

On to the miners, where a positive day was across the board. Kazakhmys closed up 38.5p at 371p despite revealing that pre-tax profit for 2008 was down to US$1.09 bln, down from US$2.03 bln in 2007, with revenue down 2% to US$5.15 bln from US$5.26 bln. ENRC, in which Kazakhmys holds a major stake, closed up 35p at 451.25p.

On to the pharmaceuticals, where Shire closed up 67.5p at 873p after announcing a deal under which GlaxoSmithKline will promote Shire’s Vyvsanse drug in the US marketplace. Glaxo closed up 48p at 1,087.5p. Peer AstraZeneca closed up 99p at 2,451p.

International catering giant Compass Group closed up 23.5p at 319p after reporting that profits were ahead of expectations for the first half of the year.

Inter-dealer broker ICAP closed up 31.25p at 304.25p after it said it expects pre-tax profit for the year to 31 March 2009 to be roughly as expected, despite the challenging conditions.

FXLR Daily Roundup – 31st March 2009

Another quiet morning in the Live Room. One trade called on a break, which turned immediately.  The next trade did better, with +58 pips taken on the 2nd half of the trade giving a +44 avearge win.  But not usual trading at the moment.  Some trading questions and techniques being far more entertaining at the moment, but these days happen.

Summary

- One Live Room trade call today; 1 loss.
- 1 Intra-day trade call; 1 win.

Live room trades

EUR/USD - Short Call (-27 pips)
Live Room Call: Entry on the break of 1.3221
Trade: Break of support level
1st Level: 1.3248, -27 pips
Stop: 1.3248
(Allow few pips for slippage on entry/exit levels)

Intra-day trades

EUR/USD - Short trade closed (+44 pips, ave.)
Opened Short: EUR/USD @ 1.3296
Stop level: 1.3345
Target level: 1.3180
Closed: 1.3238 (1/2: +30 pips, 1/2: +58 pips)
Half closed at 1.3266

See you in the morning.

FXLR team

London Session

The stock markest in Europe were bouyant this morning, with the indicies up some 1.7% by lunchtime. US futures are pointing to a gap up of 1.0% on opening.

The shiny stuff is also popular, with Gold up $3 near 918/919. G-20 talk of potentially adding the precious metal to the IMF’s SDR basket is helping there.

The move to more risk and US dollar selling for the month and quarter-end fix drove FX markets overall.

Economic data seems to have been ignored here in Europe, with the highlight being the Euro Zone CPI estimate being lower at 0.6% from 1.2%, which is the lowest run-rate on record. This should result in ECB members hard-pressed to use inflation as the argument to keep rates unchanged and makes it increasingly likely that the bank will cut -50 basis points to 1.00% this Thursday. The UK index of services sank -1.3% in January from -0.8% the previous month. Meanwhile, the German unemployment rate was higher than expected at 8.1% from 8.0% the previous month.

EUR/USD jumped about 90 pips to the 1.3310/20 zone on the back of a nice rally in the prior session. There was resistance found at 1.3340, and if the USD selling on the month and quarter-end flows is already done, this should continue to provide a good short-term barrier here. However, weakness should show if we break below 1.3240, which is both trendline and the 55 SMA support on the hour chart.

The Yen crosses continued to extend gains as the Japanese yearend flows ended. USD/JPY was up +20 pips towards 98.40/50, whilst EUR/JPY added a healthy +110 pips to the 131.15/20 zone. Now that the market can focus on weak Japanese fundamentals, the bias for the Yen crosses remains higher over the medium term.

Happy Trading

The FTSE 100 closed down 135.94 points at 3,762.91, whilst the FTSE 250 closed down 127.24 points at 6,224.28, and for those that are interested the FTSE Small Caps closed down 19.24 points at 1,743.7.

The financial sector and mining sector both had a poor day.

Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was down 271 points at 7,505, the S&P 500 was down 28 points to 788, and the Nasdaq down 56 points to 1,489. Wall Street was down on fears GM and Chrysler may face bankruptcy. Serious stuff. The White House said bankruptcy was a possibility for both General Motors and Chrysler, which was not taken well.

Back here in London, weak financial issues and mining stocks kept the main market lower, with Lloyds Banking Group and Barclays having a bad day, down 11.3p (14.8%) at 64.8p and 24.7p (14.2%) at 149.1p, respectively.  Peer HSBC closed down 32p at 370.5p and RBS down 3.3p at 23.3p.

The insurers also had a bad day, with Norwice Union owner Aviva falling the most, down 34.5p at 202.5p. The Pru closed down 20p to 307p, Legal & General down 5p at 41p, and Admiral was down 23.5p at 832p.

Staying with financials, Man Group closed down 13.9p to 199.1p, Schroders down 41p at 738.5p, and 3i Group down 13.5p at 247.75p.

The commodities were down as the chances of the upcoming G20 summit achieving anything practical to stimulate flagging demand appeared increasingly remote. Why are we not surprised?  Kazakhmys had the worst day, down 46.25p at 332.5p, whilst Xstrata closed down nearly 50p at 425p, Anglo American down 114p to 1,081p, Vedanta down 72p at 628.5p, and BHP Billiton was down 105p at 1,304p.

On to the black stuff, where oil was back at the US$48 bbl level.  The Oil majors followed back, with BP down 17p at 459.5p, RD Shell down 66p to 1,500p, and BG Group off 48p at 1,003p.

FXLR Daily Roundup – 30th March 2009

Summary

- One Live Room trade call today; 1 loss.
- 3 Intra-day trade calls; 2 losses, 1 trade still open.

The worst day since we started.  The first Cable trade was rather disappointing considering the technical setup seemed correct. There was a double bottom formed in the 15min chart. Looking back, the 30 min chart had no double bottom and no break of the prior swing high.

Sometimes we get carried away with minutia and that can cause problems. I’ll admit it’s easy for me to see it in retrospect (and I do admit that) but the desire to want to hit levels and make a quick profit can cause trades that are a bit too quick when we get down to the lower time frame charts.

I think it’s just one of those times when things are happening fast and we don’t have
time to look at the larger time-frame.

Cable to me is one of those more unpredictable pairs – volatile and tends to work
differently to others. I make a record of winning/losing set ups and Cable has the worst winning ratio. However, it also has the highest points profit. It’s down to the volatility and whippiness.

There was one decent trade taken in the room by one or two members, which was the Dollar Yen short that broke out of our level.  We let it go as we expected a reverse,w hcih eventually happened, but one member took +26 on half and +41 on the other half the trade.

Live room trades

USD/CAD - Short Call
Live Room Call: Entry on the break of 1.2489
Trade: Break of resistance level
1st Level: 1.2510, -21 pips
Stop: 1.2510
(Allow few pips for slippage on entry/exit levels)
Intra-day Trades

GBP/USD - Long trade closed (-39 pips)
Opened Long: GBP/USD @ 1.4194
Stop level: 1.4155
Target level: 1.4280
Closed: 1.4155 (-39 pips)

GBP/USD - Long trade closed (-45 pips)
Opened Long: GBP/USD @ 1.4170
Stop level: 1.4125
Target level: 1.4280
Closed: 1.4125 (-45 pips)

USD/JPY - Short trade opened
Opened Short: USD/JPY @ 96.92
Stop level: 97.20
Target level: 96.20

See you in the morning.

FXLR team

London Session

The greenback continued to gain ground in the London session as risk aversion remained the order of the day. Weekend comments for US Treasury Secretary Geithner that banks will continue to need large amounts of aid, coupled with the ousting of GM’s chief executive look to be the major headlines behind the flight to safety.

The European markets are currently down -2.6% on average this morning, whilst US futures are showing a -2.2% open and an S&P back below the critical 800 support zone.

On to the shiny stuff, where Gold is -US$10 lower near 914/913 despite the risk aversion as USD strength outpaces demand for the precious metal thus far.

Economic data across the pond was all about confidence and the news was not good. The eurozone business climate indicators dropped to -3.58 in March from -3.40 the prior month, in what is now a record low back to 1985. Consumer confidence in the eurozone also dropped to a record low -34 for the month after an already dismal -33 read previously. The news in the UK continued to worsen as well. Net consumer lending printed a much weaker than expected -0.2B in February from +0.2B prior. This was the first contraction in credit since data began back in 1993 and suggests the consumer retrenchment is in full effect.

Poor economic data coupled with ominous headlines for financials had the market flocking back to the USD.

EUR/USD shed about -40 pips towards 1.32 and remained under pressure as the ECB rate meeting looms later this week. Trichet is set to speak at this morning in the USA in what could be a preview of what to expect and dovish comments here could see EUR/USD back to the 1.3158 intraday lows. The Yen crosses were mixed after taking a pummeling overnight.

USD/JPY was modestly higher near 96.70/80 while EUR/JPY sank about -20 points into the 127.60 area as the moves in the two pairs were more about USD strength than anything.

FXLR Daily Roundup – 27th March 2009

It was a fairly good day today, with the target of +100 pips reached on the CAD.  The morning started well for some even before the Live Room opened, with a Cable short taken around the 1.4467 level as it broke the perfect up trend on both the 15min and one hour charts.  A lovely trade.  This Cable trade did well all morning, with one or two getting in and out 3 times, with up to +86 pips on one occasion. A CAD break out long trade was taken as well, which took its time but reached the target.  The Yen trade also gave us some profits on half, but we closed out the 2nd half at break even. Quite an active morning, with the Live Room becoming more like a community. 

Summary

- One Live Room trade call today; 1 win.
- 2 Intra-day trade calls; 1 win, 1 trade still open.

Live room trades

USD/JPY - Short Call
Live Room Call: Entry on the break of 98.98
Trade: Break of resistance level
1st Level: 99.23, +25 pips
2nd Level: 98.98, +0 pips (Ave. +12 pips)
Stop: 98.70
(Allow few pips for slippage on entry/exit levels)

Intra-day trades

USD/CAD - Long trade closed (+63 pips, ave.)
Opened Long: USD/CAD @ 1.2330
Stop level: 1.2280
Target level: 1.2430
Closed: 1.2430 (1/2: +26 pips, 1/2: +100 pips)
Target reached
Half position closed 1.2356

EUR/JPY - Long trade opened
Opened Long: EUR/JPY @ 130.54
Stop level: 130.00
Target level: 131.80
Trade 1/2 size.
We are leaving this trade run at present, but do set a stop loss if you have it still as well.

Have a great weekend.

FXLR team

The FTSE100 closed down 26.35 points at 3,898.85 today, whilst the FTSE 250 cllosed down 30.62 points at 6,351.52, and for those that are interested the FTSE Small Caps were ending just about where they started the day at 1,763.51. The banks did ok today but this was offset by the heavy losses amongst insurers and the heavyweight miners.

Over the pond, Wall Street opened sharply lower, and by the time London closed the DJIA was down about 120 points to 7,804, whilst the S&P500 was down nearly 12 points at 821, and the Nasdaq down over 26 points at just under 1,561. US data showed personal spending rose last month, but personal income declined.

Back here in London, the strength amongst banking stocks failed to offset weakness elsewhere. Barclays closed up 33.7p at 173.8p after confirming press reports it has passed a Financial Services Authority (FSA) ’stress test’ to assess whether it needs additional capital.  Peer Lloyds Banking Group closed up 7.1p at 76.1p.

On to the insurers, where things weren’t as good. The Pru closed down 20p at 327p, Admiral down 27.5p at 855.5p, Aviva down 8p at 237p, although Legal & General closed up a little at 46p, 1.5p better off. Specialist life assurance group Just Retirement added 1.75p at 64p after posting a rise in pre-tax profit despite lower revenues.

The mining stocks had a better start but tailed off, with ENRC closing down 35.75p at 444.25p, Lonmin down 64p at 1,429p, Vedanta Resources down 5p at 700.5p, Anglo American down 57p at 1,195p, Antofagasta down 4.5p at 516p, and Kazahkmys down 18.25p at 378.75p after a downngrade to sell from hold at Deutsche Bank, with target price of 239p, down from 246p. Two did better, though, with Rio Tinto closing up 96p at 2,478p, and Xstrata closing up 11p at 475.75p.

Oil services specialist, Wood Group, closed down 11.75p at 222p.

FXLR Daily Roundup – 26th March 2009

A quiet morning, but a nice Cable win this afternoon, with an average of +63 pips taken.

Summary

- No Live Room trade calls today.
- 2 Intra-day trade calls; 1 loss, 1 win.

Live room trades

- No calls today.

Intra-day trades

GBP/USD - Long trade closed (-45 pips)
Open Long: GBP/USD @ 1.4625
Stop level: 1.4580
Target level: 1.4720
Closed: 1.4580 (-45 pips)

GBP/USD - Short trade closed (+63 average)
Open Short: GBP/USD @ 1.4525
Stop level: 1.4575
Target level: 1.4410
Closed: (1/2: +41 pips, 1/2: +85 pips)
Half position closed 1.4484 (+41 pips)
Half position closed 1.4400 (+85 pips)

See you in the morning.

FXLR team

The FTSE 100 closed up 24.95 points at 3,925.2, whilst the FTSE 250 closed up 11.03 points at 6,382.14, and for those that are interested the FTSE Small Caps closed up 13.87 points better at 1,764.39. The bigger shares were fairly even most oif the day, runjing in an open channel, although slightly higher. There were a few company reports and updates to digest today, with strength in both the financial and mining and sectors (surprisingly). which hlped keep the index on the plus side.

Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJIA was up 71.21 points to 7,821.02, the S&P500 gained 8.65 points at 822.53 and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 21.42 points to 1,550.37. Wall Street was better after opening on the back of the profit report by Best Buy, which had fallen less than expected from the Q4 firures.

Back here in London, the financials were mixed. Hedge fund manager Man Group closed up 11.5p at 219p after saying it would maintain its full-year dividend even though it had halved its profits. The banks did well, with Barclays closing up 16.7p at 140.1p, Lloyds Banking Group up 7.2p at 69p, RBS up 1.8p at 26.6p, and HSBC up 25p at 399.25p.

The insurers were mixed, with The Pru down 2.5p at 347p amd Standard Life down 1.7p at 176p, whilst Norwich Union owener Aviva closed up 9p at 245p, and Legal & General up 4.8p at 44.5p.

On top the miners, where hopes of demand help the majors - ENRC had the best day, closing up 69.5p at 480p, whilst Rio Tinto closed up 163p at 2,382p, Xstrata up 3.25p at 463.75p, and Vedanta Resources up 37.5p to 705.5p.