20000326IMM currency futures finish higher, off peaks

CHICAGO: IMM currency futures advanced throughout much of Friday's session and ended higher but off the day's peaks.

Brokers said afternoon order flows diminished to what one called "boring" levels, although some market-on-close selling surfaced in the June Canadian dollar.

They said currencies from the outset stayed skewed to the upside, with moves periodically gaining force from buystops. A brief downturn before midday never gathered enough momentum to follow through, and futures recovered again.

"It just seemed like it wanted to go up," said the floor broker. "It kept on testing the upside all day long."

"They're going up faster than they're going down," noted another broker of the firm market tone on Friday.

Brokers said an afternoon reversal lower in US stocks from hefty earlier gains continued to have muted effect on currencies, as did a slide in US Treasuries.

Swiss, Sterling and Canadian dollar futures had begun higher on some fund buying, with strength linked to followthrough from Thursday's activity.

Brokers said the market generally continued to find a bid from Thursday's unexpectedly aggressive tightening by the Swiss National Bank, although the euro initially weakened on crosses.

Chartists said strong closes again on Friday in Swiss francs, which settled above $0.6168, and in Canadian dollar, which ended above $0.6839, could portend more upside in those units soon.

At settlement, June yen rose $0.000033 to $0.009480, euros gained $0.00310 to $0.98070, sterling gained $0.0062 to $1.5934, Swiss advanced $0.0069 to $0.6194, Canadian dollar added $0.0022 to $0.6846, Australian dollar gained $0.0026 to $0.6088, and Mexican peso added $0.000225 to $0.106425.-Reuters