We’re up at 82.50, the pairing having been bolstered by Shirakawa’s earlier comments.

Talk of buy stops coming thick and fast.  Through 82.55, 82.65 and also 82.75 ahead of well-documented 83.00 barrier interest.

UPDATE:  Stops done through 82.55 and 82.65.  We’ve been to 82.70.  More through 82.75.  Japanese bank buying (plural) notable in latest move. Talk it’s related to M&A deal.

• EU at ‘turning point’ in debt crisis

Bloomberg reporting.

EU’s Barroso:

• Situation remains fragile in Europe

In recent trade.  Getting it from mulitple sources.

We sit at 1.3160 in very quiet trade.

Overnight in Asia there was a rumour (as reported by Sean), that there was to be EUR/USD demand today related to IMF payments to Greek bailout.

FRANCE DATA: Jan current account deficit widened to E4.2 bln from E2.8
bln in Dec (revised from -E3.0 bln)
- Bigger merchandise goods shortfall (-E5.6 bln vs -E5.5 bln),
- Smaller services surplus (+E0.6 bln vs +E1.6 bln), and
- Smaller revenues surplus +E3.0 bln vs +E3.3 bln) offset
- Lower transfers deficit (-E2.2 bln vs -E2.3 bln)

Versus revised -2.8 bln in December.

Good news for USD/JPY bulls. Likelihood of more monetary easing down the pike.

• Whether Japan is heading for desireable price growth is key to its policy decisions
• Our policy stance is one factor behind bond yield falls, yen drop, share price rise since February easing
• Europe’s debt woes, crude oil price rise remain risks to Japan’s economic outlook
• Govt, private sector, banks also need to make efforts to boost Japan’s potential growth
• Considered easing, loan scheme for growth sectors as a package of steps to beat deflation
• Would not change policy in response to political pressure (ofcourse not)
• Easing of market tension, signs of improvement in U.S. economy have caused yen to weaken
• Reduced risk aversion among global investors has led share price gains

He’s not alone…

Speaking on RTL radio the official warned of the 3% target by 2013, “This is ofcourse an enormous problem to reach this over two years. The 16 other finance ministers of the euro zone believe that what they have planned for this year is not yet enough.”

DAX up 1.1%, CAC 40 up +1%

• Moody’s says increased risk Cypriot govt will have to provide support to local banks exposed to Greek debt

FRANCE DATA:Feb HICP +0.5% m/m, +2.5% y/y after Jan -0.4% m/m, +2.6% y/y
– Below expected; MNI analysts survey median forecast +2.6% y/y
– nsa CPI: +0.4% m/m, +2.3% y/y after Jan -0.4% m/m, +2.3% y/y
– sa core: flat m/m, +1.4% y/y after Jan -0.1% m/m, +1.5% y/y
– See MNI MainWire for details

• There is consensus in the eurosystem that non-standard monetary policy measures are temporary and limited
• Non-standard measures must not be a substitute for financial and economic reforms

Reuters reporting.

As expected.

Financial bookies see FTSE opening up as much as +0.6%,  DAX up as much as +1.0% and CAC 40 up as much as +0.8%.

Got any ideas you’d like to share with your fellow readers, then here’s where to stick ‘em.

• BOJ keeps interest rates unchanged and makes no change to its monetary policy
• FinMin Azumi announced that Japan would buy Yuan65 billion in Chinese debt
• EU endorses new bailout plan for Greece
• Australian business confidence fell in February, owner-occupied housing finance was also down but business conditions improved
• UK RICS house price balance improved from -16 in January to -13 in February
• Regional stockmarkets rallied by over 1% on average, with some talk of large calls being bought on S&P ahead of the Federal Reserve meeting
• Gold $1705/oz; Oil $106.70/bbl

It was a fairly quiet session again in Asia, with the market waiting for the BOJ meeting to end and also the federal Reserve meeting later today. Rumours drove the market with talk of large plays in S&P futures as well as talk of Sovereign interest in the EUR.

AUD/USD was again the main mover, opening near session lows at 1.0510 but moving gradually higher as stockmarkets caught a bid tone. The rather subdued business confidence index did send the Aussie briefly lower but as the Australian stockmarket continued to ignore the MacQuarie Bank downgrade, so too did the AUD continue to recover. Range: 1.0505/61

EUR/USD has edged higher through the session on the back of rumours that Sovereign need to buy significant amounts in the coming days and also benefitting from EUR/JPY buying as risk sentiment improved. Ranges: 1.3143/91

USD/JPY was stagnated ahead of the BOJ in a 30 pip range, 82.14/41 but fell back towards 82.00 after the no-change disappointed short-term Yen bears.

Cable 1.5629/61; EUR/CHF 1.2055 choice

Yen crosses are giving back a bit of their earlier gains and the Nikkei has also dropped back to be now +0.4% on the session.

Some short term speculators were obviously long of the Yen crosses and the Nikkei in the hope of another BOJ surprise but they have been disappointed and are now squaring up.

More from Der Spiegel

Thanks for all the support and I am learning something today! There are expiries today for stock index futures, stock index options, stock options and single stock futures and this is known as ‘quadruple witching’. Add the Fed meeting into the mix and we have definite possibilities of increased volatility.

On top of this, there was a big jump in S&P futures contracts which was caused by some greatly increased volumes which could be attributed to the ‘fat finger’ syndrome or there could be other reasons? Whatever the driver, the Asian stockmarket rally is likely being driven by this as well.

JAPAN DATA: The average price of land in Japan for all purposes
measured at the beginning of 2012 is expected to have posted a fourth
straight year-on-year drop, but the pace of decline appears to have
decelerated from the 3.0% decrease seen last year. The Ministry of Land,
Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism will release the 2012 average land
price data reflecting transactions during 2011 at 1650 JST (0750 GMT) on
Thursday, March 22.