Euro falls in Asia

The euro and the Australian dollar eased on Friday after Chinese growth data disappointed traders positioning for a strong showing, but other Chinese data came mostly in line with, or above expectations, limiting the downside. The markets for major currencies showed no reaction to news that North Korea's much hyped long-range rocket crashed into the sea shortly after launch on Friday.
China's economy grew 8.1 percent in the first quarter of 2012 from a year earlier, falling short of economists' forecast of 8.3 percent and well below an improbably high 9 percent expectation that swirled in markets and boosted risk assets on Thursday. This saw the euro slip to $1.3176, down 0.15 percent from late US levels, and more importantly, for now preventing the risk-sensitive currency below major resistance level at $1.3209, where it has a 50 percent retracement of its decline since late March and its 55-day moving average.
The Australian dollar fell 0.4 percent to $1.0390, shedding some of its 1.2 percent gains on Thursday following a surprisingly strong local jobs report and solid loan numbers from China, the country's single biggest export market. The Aussie was also so far unable to clear resistance on daily Ichimoku charts at about $1.0450, where it has a cloud bottom and a kijun line, making that level pivotal for the currency from a chartist's point of view.
Still, the Australian dollar may find some support in the short term near $1.0350-60, said Rob Ryan, FX strategist at BNP Paribas in Singapore. The chances of the euro and the Aussie clearing major resistance remain in place, some analysts say, as other Chinese data on Friday such as March retail sales and industrial output came in above expectations.
"While there was a knee-jerk market reaction to softer-than-expected GDP, figures for March were not that bad, which suggests some stabilisation after weakness in earlier months," said Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ analyst Teppei Ino. Against that backdrop, the dollar extended its rebound versus the Japanese yen on Friday, with some traders citing talk of Japanese investors buying foreign assets at the start of the new financial year this month. In Asia, the dollar edged up 0.2 percent to 81.10 yen, extending gains from Wednesday's six-week low of 80.57 yen.