EUR/USD bottom now behind us, says BNP Paribas, which has a long-standing end-2Q forecast for the pair of 1.35 and an end-3Q forecast of 1.40.

"Our call for 2012 is very strongly that EUR/USD will likely trough in 1Q after which USD bearishness would be the theme...It seems such a trend has likely been established earlier than even we had anticipated," says Steven Saywell, BNP Paribas' head of FX strategy in Europe.

"EUR/USD may not rally in a straight line from here but it is hard to argue for new lows below [the] 1.2625 [low] that has already been established," he says.