Australian Dollar
Expected Range 0.7300 – 0.7400
During a holiday interrupted start to the new week the Australian dollar struggled to find many buyers on Monday following a report from China over the weekend which showed retail sales and urban investment unexpectedly fell during the first quarter of this year. Having initially started the day up above the 74 US Cents handle, support managed to kick in closer to 0.7350 amid broader signs of global uncertainty. Whilst offshore investors will be looking towards the US Federal Reserve’s policy statement on Thursday, domestically business and consumer confidence survey’s will be the focus over the coming days ahead of a labour market report later the week which is expected to show that Australia’s economy created 14 900 new jobs during May. Opening weaker this morning the Australian dollar currently buys 73.86 US Cents.
New Zealand Dollar
Expected Range 0.7010 – 0.7120
The New Zealand dollar has done well to maintain its value versus its US Counterpart during the early parts of this week, trading between a low of 0.7031 and a high of 0.7081. Whilst jumping to its highest point since April of last year when valued against the Sterling overall the Kiwi has struggled to advance in an environment favouring instead the worlds traditionally safer and larger asset classes. With flows over the coming 24 hours once again set to remain vulnerable to sentiment measures, Thursday’s GDP print is the domestic highlight. Opening steady versus the might of the Greenback the Kiwi currently buys 70.58 US Cents.
Great British Pound
Expected Range 1.9200 – 1.9310
Remaining the biggest causality in the lead up to Britain’s vote which will decide whether they withdraw from the European Union, the Great British Pound has remained a highly liquid and highly volatile unit having lost more than four percent when valued against its US Counterpart this year. Losing a further 30 basis points overnight versus the Greenback, investors will still need to navigate reports on inflation, retail sales and employment as well as a Bank of England announcement all ahead of next Thursday’s referendum. In what’s threatening to become of one biggest risk events of the year, the Sterling opens weaker across the board this morning, giving up ground versus the US dollar (1.4230), the Australian dollar (1.9258) and the New Zealand dollar (2.0145).
Majors
Expected Range N/A
Investors were greeted with good old fashioned risk aversion yesterday with fears of Britain’s exit from the Eurozone weighing heavily on broader measures of sentiment. In a session which favoured the world’s safest and deepest havens the US dollar gained versus all of its major counterparts with equities across China, Japan and Korea leading the sell-off. During a week which features a monetary policy statement from the US Federal Reserve, no underlying change to interest rates is expected when the FOMC meet on Thursday with the market still remaining somewhat divided when questioned on where rates will be toward the back of end of 2016. In a trading window which is littered with potentially market moving events, tonight kick offs with monthly retail sales numbers from the world’s largest economy followed by tomorrow’s industrial production and manufacturing reads.