It’s been a close contest for much of Tuesday’s EU session...

It’s been a close contest for much of Tuesday’s EU session and is still likely to go down to the wire as the Aussie and Euro remain neck-and-neck in the race for first place among majors. Both currencies have gleaned encouragement from independent factors, such as Capital Economics calling for the RBA to terminate asset purchases by April and ZEW survey metrics exceeding expectations along with an encouraging assessment of the outlook for exports, but a broad Greenback retreat is the common denominator, as Aud/Usd and Eur/Usd attempt to secure grips on respective 0.7700 and 1.2100 handles amidst waning risk sentiment, and hefty 1.2 bn option expiry interest for the former bang on the round number. Back to the Euro, reports suggesting that Italian PM Conte is making progress towards building a majority in the Senate where he requires 161 votes to receive a 2nd vote of confidence could give the single currency another fillip if confirmed to breach 1.2150.