Australian Dollar
Expected Range 0.7370 – 0.7470
The Australian Dollar has consolidated its position above 74 cents to open this morning at 0.7452 after a relatively quiet day. The Deputy Governor of the RBA spoke yesterday and was fairly upbeat about the Australian economy and said that part of the success has been off the back of the falling AUD across the last 12 months. In news out of China the Trade Balance data came in well short of expectations though the Chinese New Year May have distorted the numbers. The Australian Dollar which has been closely linked to Chinese new in recent times was relatively unchanged by the announcement the positive movements in the commodity prices over the last week and general USD weakness have given the AUD support which is why we still see the Dollar above 0.7450 this morning.
New Zealand Dollar
Expected Range 0.6700 – 0.6850
The New Zealand dollar has fallen below 0.68 to open this morning at 0.6747 after the Chinese Trade Balance data missed its mark. The Chinese Trade Balance came in at $210 Billion vs expectations of $339 Billion the result is another sign that the Chinese economy still has some issues that it needs to work out. While the New Zealand Dollar has pulled back from intraday highs above 0.68 it has been able to hold on to much of the previous week’s gains because rising commodity prices have given support. The main focus of the week remains the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s Interest Rate decision tomorrow with no new data being released locally today.
Great British Pound
Expected Range 1.9025 – 1.9625
The Great British Pound finds itself roughly where it started yesterday after briefly pushing through the 1.92 level the Pound is now trading at 1.9118 against the AUD. Yesterday saw Bank of England Governor Carney testified that leaving the Eurozone after the referendum in June will have a number of short term costs to the UK including weaker investment, lower consumer spending and relocation of foreign owned banks to other countries within the Eurozone. The GBP is buying 2.1080 NZD and 1.4215 USD this morning.
Majors
Expected Range N/A
The Japanese Final GDP data released yesterday came in slightly ahead of expectations while still that the economy contracted over the last quarter. However the better than expected numbers allowed the JPY to strengthen across most currency pairs. Looking at the USD and Euro volatility was limited across the day.