Daily monitor 11.02.2013 Monday

Market news:

With most of the region’s major stock exchanges closed in observance of the Chinese Lunar New Year, action in Asian equities was minimal during Monday’s Asian session. Australia’s S&P ASX was unchanged, but still around its highest levels in nearly three years.

The EUR is trading higher against most of its major counterparts this morning ahead of the Eurozone finance ministers meeting in Brussels today to discuss aid to Cyprus and Greece. European equities are mixed though.

On Friday, leaders of the European Union have reached an agreement on the region’s long-term budget, and as a result, the EUR was trading higher against the USD and GBP.

The European Central Bank (ECB) left its target rate unchanged at 0.75 percent last week. ECB head Mario Draghi also put the Euro’s recent strength on everyone’s radar when he said that "the appreciation is, in a sense, a sign of return of confidence in the Euro".

Today will be a light day in terms of economic news with the only noteworthy event being the Eurogroup meeting, which will be followed by the ECOFIN meetings tomorrow. Also keep in mind that Japanese and Chinese banks will be closed today.

Intraday options that are due to expire today at 15:00 GMT.

EUR/USD – 1.3325, 1.3500

USD/JPY – 92.50, 92.75

AUD/USD – 1.0400

EUR/CHF – 1.2320

Important economic data scheduled for today:

No major economic news releases are expected today.