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IMM currency futures end wild session mixed

CHICAGO: An afternoon of widely divergent price moves in brisk trading left IMM currency futures mixed, with yen marching upward at the expense of the euro.

"I feel like I was doing aerobics all day," said one IMM floor broker after the close. "There was a steady barrage of pretty determined yen buying for several hours."

"It was crazy," added another floor broker. "We had a 24-point closing range in the (June) yen."

June yen posted a 386-point daily range on Friday, among its broadest in recent months, as it hurdled layers of resistance on the final day of Japan's fiscal year and before the Bank of Japan's quarterly Tankan business survey on Monday that analysts expect to prove yen-supportive.

Expectations for a strong Tankan were pumped up by comments overnight by Japanese Economic Planning Agency chief Taichi Sakaiya, who said the economy may have grown considerably in the January-March quarter.

Brokers said swings in yen and euros largely excluded the dollar and suggested more technical upside for yen and further pressure on euro, although some said bargain-hunters might postpone the June euro's return to its contract low at $0.95300.

The June euro set a daily low of $0.95800 late on Friday and settled down $0.00550 at $0.96070.

"It's the default against the euro," the first floor broker said of the yen's strength. "They're using it as an excuse to further dump the euro. The dollar didn't enter into the equation."

June yen finished up $0.000302 at $0.009908 after powering through resistance near $0.009700 and $0.009900, hitting buy stops as many shorts apparently bailed out and some flipped positions to the buy side, brokers said.

"This was a big move," said Frank Lesh, currency analyst with Rand Financial Services. "I think we changed the character of the market.... We got (June yen) above $0.009700 overnight and we just rocked."

He figured June yen might revert soon to the range it frequented last November and December of between about 100 and 101, and he pegged the bottom tip of that band at $0.009939, just above Friday's IMM high at $0.009936.

But June euro, which Lesh said has faltered after approaching resistance spanning $0.9689-$0.9729, could retreat again soon to the contract low and possibly head down toward the $0.9440 area.

"I can't say this chart looks good," he said of the euro.

Elsewhere on Friday, brokers said one fund manager bought about 1,000 June Canadian dollar early and also sold 1,000 sterling.

At settlement, June sterling was down $0.0028 at $1.5940, Swiss francs fell $0.0022 to $0.6055, Canadian dollar rose $0.0022 to $0.6911, Australian dollar lost $0.0050 to $0.6082, Mexican peso rose $0.00625 to $0.106125. -Reuters