Recovery off Thursday's low of..........>

EURO-DOLLAR: Recovery off Thursday's low of $1.1642 touched a high of $1.1679

before it drifted off to $1.1665 into the close. Early Asia extended the move to

$1.1660 before it bounced back up to $1.1676 but recovery met headwind

resistance and eased back to $1.1660 again. Rate edged back above $1.1670 into

Europe, getting a lift to $1.1690 as market reacted to reported comments from

ECB Nowotny, ECB should focus on getting the deposit rate out of negative

territory, and he believes that the "woes" in Italy should not delay the hiking

cycle. Again recovery attempt met headwind resistance and has eased back to

$1.1676 at writing. Month-end and bank models have signals suggesting strong USD

sales to be seen at today's fixes. Added to this the option expiry table is

showing some sizeable interest today, $1.1600(E2.07bn), $1.1620-25(E798mn),

$1.1675(E1.09bn), $1.1690-95(E947mn), 1.1700-05(E1.67bn), $1.1720-30(E2.34bn),

$1.1750-55(E1.56bn). Long weekend in the US looms so expect markets in this

region to quieten into their afternoon. EM FX remains a key driver in markets.

Flash EZ CPI at 0900GMT, France and Italy CPI releases ahead to be watched after

the softer data from Germany and Spain Thursday.