US equities sharply lower in..................>

FOREX: US equities sharply lower in holiday-thinned markets.

- Equities once again dictated price action, the broad-based risk-off tone

triggered sharp falls in FX currency markets. Technical selling on the break of

the S&P's 200-dma saw the DJI lose 700+ points. One other standout was the S&P

closed Q1 in negative territory (-1.22%) for the first time in 9 years.

- As expected JPY crosses were hit hard and quickly pared early US gains.

Eur/Jpy was the biggest faller with a sharp 100+ pip reversal to Y129.98.

Gbp/Jpy and Aud/Jpy also touched respective lows of Y148.39/Y80.82.

- US ISM mfg came in slightly weaker at 55.6, Usd/Jpy initially failed to react.

But, the risk-off tone soon added weight through Y106 to print lows of Y105.66.

- Eur/Usd and Gbp/Usd both suffered via the crosses, touching lows of $1.2282

and $1.4019. USD demand at the 4pm fix was also attributed to the Eur/Usd move.

- SEK & NOK were the weakest in G10, Eur-Sek hit fresh multi-year highs of

Sek10.338. The WMR Ldn fix also saw Usd/Cad move through C$1.29.

- Data highlights tomorrow from the RBA rate decision, German Retail Sales and

mfg PMI across Europe.