Australian Dollar:
The Australian Dollar opens higher across the board today after concluding a notably positive week of trade on Friday. Main contributors to the local currency being bolstered was the RBA leaving rates on hold at 2.00% last Tuesday, as well as weak economic figures being released out of the US throughout the week. The AUD/USD high reached on Friday was 0.7344 and opens this morning buying 73.28 US cents. With no domestic economic announcements on the cards as well as a bank holiday scheduled in the US, limited volatility is expected today with the Aussie.
We expect a range today of AUD/USD 0.7300 – 0.7380
New Zealand Dollar:
The Kiwi commences trade today stronger against the US Dollar, however has lost ground throughout Fridays trade session against its Australian counterpart. Last week’s support against the USD was predominantly due to Greenback weakness and soft data out of the US. The local currency losses against the Aussie are mostly due to speculation surrounding the possibility of another rate cut by the RBNZ in the near future. An absence of local data points and several bank holidays in various countries will see the Kiwi remain range bound today. The NZD/USD opens at 0.6693.
Great British Pound:
Soft construction output data and trade balance figures released on Friday has resulted in the Pound Sterling falling against a handful of its major counterparts. Local economic growth appears to have been sluggish as construction output reportedly fell in August, as well as the trade deficit narrowing slightly, however being much larger still than expected. The Pound Sterling opens weaker at 1.5306 against its US counterpart, and lower against its Australian and New Zealand counterparts at 2.0880 and 2.2848 respectively.
We expect a range today of GBP/AUD 2.0840 – 2.0920
Majors:
The EUR/USD wraps up a progressive week as a combination of negative US data and upbeat figures out of the Eurozone has resulted in the currency pair opening much higher today at 1.1352. Upcoming this week trader attention will be focusing on retails sales and inflationary data out of the US on Wednesday, as well as an economic sentiment report from Germany tomorrow. As no data is scheduled for release out of the Eurozone today all eyes will be on all three FOMC members speaking today in the US (Lockart, Evans, and Brainard).
Data releases:
All Currencies: IMF Meetings
CAD: Bank Holiday, BOC Gov Poloz Speaks
GBP: CB Leading index m/m
JPY: Bank Holiday
USD: Bank Holiday, FOMC Member Lockhart Speaks, FOMC Member Evans Speaks, FOMC member Brainard Speaks