First, a review of last week’s forecast:
- EUR/USD. Many top traders have complained, with these complaints even being audible in the media, that there is a distinct lack of clear trends for this pair. They are right: it has been impossible to identify a winner in the perennial bull-bear struggle for two continuous weeks so far. The moment it seems the former will start dominating, the pair rises to 1.0630, the situation changes and the euro weakens, dropping the pair to the support level at 1.0500. Because of this uncompleted struggle, the pair finished the week in almost the same place where it started back on February 20: at 1.0622;
- Giving the forecast for GBP/USD, most analysts sided with the bears last week. They were right. The pair really rushed southwards in attempt to reach the lower boundary of the five-month side corridor 1.1985-1.2720. Again as expected, it froze its movement near the channel's centre line, stopping just below 1.2300 on Friday evening;
- Recall that the opinions of 70% of experts and the readings of graphical analysis on the future of USD/JPY were that the pair should rise to 114.00, or even higher. This forecast can be considered almost entirely fulfilled. On Friday evening, the pair reached a height of 114.75, before rushing back to marks in 114.00 area, where it met the end of the working week;
- With regard to USD/CHF, here 70% of experts and more than 85% of indicators voted in favour of the bulls' victory and a growth of the pair to the level of 1.0150. An alternative view was put forward by graphical analysis, according to which at the beginning of the week the pair was expected to move laterally with a predominance of bearish sentiment, declining to the 1.0000 support level. That is exactly what happened: having fixed the bottom on Tuesday February 28 at 1.0000, the pair turned and rushed upwards, managing to reach the height of 1.0146 by Thursday. As for the end of the week, here a mirror imitation of EUR/USD took over and the pair fell exactly to where it had started on Monday: 1.0073.
Forecast for the coming week:
Summarizing the views of a number of analysts from leading banks and brokerage firms, as well as the forecasts made on the basis of a wide variety of technical and graphical analysis methods, we can say the following:
- The EUR/USD upwards jump at the end of the last week's session of more than 100 points surprised many. However, despite this, more than 70% of experts expect the dollar’s growth to continue and the pair to decline to the 1.0400 area. Graphical analysis on D1 also agrees with this development. H4, however, suggests that the pair may make another leap northwards and reach the height of 1.0680. This view is shared by the remaining quarter of analysts. It is possible that their expectations are associated with a negative forecast on the change in US employment (NFP), the data for which will be announced on Friday, 10 March. According to forecasts, the number of new jobs outside the agricultural sector could decline from 227K to 170-175K;
- GBP/USD. Here, about 80% of analysts and the same proportion of trend indicators and oscillators are still siding with the bears. According to their forecast, the pair’s immediate goal is the 1.2100-1.2145 area. The opposite view is expressed by graphical analysis on H4, according to which, having reached the local bottom at 1.2200, the pair may rebound and return to the 1.2400-1.2560 zone;
- USD/JPY. The dollar is also expected to strengthen against the Japanese yen. This forecast is supported by 65% of analysts and over 80% of indicators, who believe that the pair must first climb to 116.00, before proceeding to jump upwards by another 100 points. Having said that, graphical analysis on D1 indicates that, upon meeting the resistance in the 117.00-117.50 area, the pair could turn around and descend to its current value at 114.00. This version is supported by the oscillators, some of which show that the pair is overbought;
- As for the last pair of our review, USD/CHF, the forecast for it can be summarised by "To the North and only northwards!" Almost 90% of analysts and 70% of indicators on D1 support this direction. The task is to break the 1.0140 resistance and rise to 1.0210. The remaining 10% of analysts suggest a sideways trend. The number of believers in the pair’s fall seems to be zero. This zero is a particular cause for concern – such occasions often deliver traders unpleasant surprises. However, the pair will, most likely, mirror the underlying trend, set by EUR/USD.
Roman Butko, NordFX
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