AM trading in Europe has seen the British Pound and Euro hold the support areas of the last week as we move into NFP day. The Euro is currently holding above 1.4280 and is looking likely to make a move up today towards US open. The Pound making stronger moves from a base of 1.5920 area and currently trying to push above the round number of 1.6.

The US dollar continued to remain buoyant ahead of this afternoon’s much anticipated payroll numbers, after some conflicting views on the greenback from senior Fed officials.

The Japanese yen continued to remain weak in Asia as demand for riskier investments continued to gain traction on hopes for continued economic recovery. Combined with the resignation of finance minister Fuji on health grounds, an advocate of a stronger yen, the currency weakened particularly against its higher yielding counterparts.

Crude oil continued to rise after encouraging manufacturing data although a resurgent dollar limited the advance.

The predominant theme of 2009 was of US dollar weakness, and this re-asserted itself overnight, after continued positive economic data re-established demand for riskier assets, and after Fed official Duke, reiterated that interest rates are expected to remain ultra low for some time to come.

US crude oil futures rose over 2% on Monday, settling at a 14-month high, following encouraging economic data from the US and China and as the dollar weakened against major currencies.