Australian Dollar
Expected Range 0.7150 – 0.7260
The Australian dollar is up slightly to open this morning at 0.7242 against the USD after oil prices got a boost following confirmation that a meeting between the biggest oil producers to discuss cutting production. There was some positive news out locally with the Private Capital coming in ahead of expectations (0.8% vs -3.1%). Despite this the Australian trade below 0.72 during local trade the AUD/USD and hitting intraday lows of 0.7158 the AUD was able to recover during European and Wall Street trade to push back through to end up where we are this morning. With not data out locally expect the market to take direction from overseas factors.
New Zealand Dollar
Expected Range 0.6600 – 0.6800
The New Zealand Dollar has managed to push through the 0.67 mark against the USD this morning in the lead up to the trade balance which will be released this morning. Visitor arrivals posted a strong gain of 2.9% and despite some good data out of the US the NZD was able to perform well boosted late in the day by an increasing oil price. As mentioned the main focus of today will be the trade balance data which has come in ahead of expectations for the last three months.
Great British Pound
Expected Range 1.9300 – 1.9500
Great British Pound has managed to stem the drop against the AUD yesterday to close down 15 point at 1.9305. Being another day removed from the major announcements regarding the exit from the Eurozone and limited data in the market has allowed the GBP to stabilise. The Bank of England governor Carney will speak tonight with the market looking for any piece of news regarding the Bank of England’s future movements.
Majors
Expected Range N/A
The US had some positive data released overnight with the Core Durable Goods Orders coming in well ahead of expectations and the unemployment claims coming in around expectations despite this it was unable to make ground on the AUD, NZD or GBP. In Europe the Final CPI y/y came in just below expectations at 0.3% vs 0.4%. Bank of Japan has its core CPI y/y released this afternoon. Looking through tonight the Prelim GDP q/q data out of the US will be the main piece of new tonight.