There is no particular headline driving the move but at the same time, risk appetite looks to be sapped after a mildly positive open earlier. European indices are now down around 0.1% to 0.3% with bond yields sitting a little higher on the day. The early flows are translating to a positive start for the dollar, gaining across the major currencies board.

USD/JPY is up 0.6% to 145.75 and is pushing back towards a test of the 50.0 Fib retracement level of the swing lower from November to December, seen at 146.07.

Elsewhere, GBP/USD is down 0.3% to 1.2715 at the lows for the day while USD/CAD is also up 0.1% to 1.3420 from around 1.3390 earlier. The antipodeans are also struggling with AUD/USD down 0.4% to 0.6655 and NZD/USD down 0.9% to 0.6185. The latter is threatening a steeper technical drop as highlighted earlier here.

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.