Australian Dollar
Expected Range 0.7515 – 0.7615
The Australian Dollar finished the week strongly to close the week at 0.7562 against the USD. After an up and down week with the AUD bouncing either side of the 75 cent mark the currency was able to finish the week up over 100 points from Mondays open. With limited data out locally the AUD has been quite resilient since the volatility caused by the Brexit vote. The US had a strong employment data with 287 thousand job created over the last month. Despite the good number the USD remained unchanged partly due to the increase of the unemployment rate which was a result an increase in the amount of people looking for job. With limited data out locally the AUD will take direction from external factors.
New Zealand Dollar
Expected Range 0.7245 – 0.7345
The New Zealand dollar had a big finish to the week gaining over 150 points across Thursday and Friday and opens this week at 0.7289 against the USD. The NZD did briefly push through the 73 cent mark hitting a high of 0.7306 which is a level not seen since May of 2015. The relatively high interest rates in New Zealand continue to make the NZD an attractive currency to the rest of the world and the speculation around a potential rate cut in Australia has seen some money move from Australia and into NZD. There is no data out of New Zealand today.
Great British Pound
Expected Range 1.6930 – 1.7330
A dismal reading in the UK Balance of Trade and continuing uncertainty surrounding Britain’s exit from the EU weighed heavily on the Pound again on Friday which saw it slip to 31 year lows versus the US Dollar. Sterling has fallen almost 13 percent versus its Trans-Atlantic counterpart since the June 23rd vote with volatility set to continue over the coming weeks. Adding to Pound direction this week will include the outcome of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy meeting Thursday with the market is forecasting a potential cut in official interest rates from 0.50% to 0.25%. At opening in Sydney the Pound is currently trading at 1.7094 versus the Australian Dollar and 1.7716 against the New Zealand Dollar.
Majors
Expected Range N/A
Despite have a positive jobs number on Friday the currency remained relatively unmoved. After a disappointing June number the US adding 287 thousand jobs is a sign that the US economy still has signs of growth. The unemployment rate at the same time did increase from 4.7% to 4.9% mainly due to an increase in the participation rate. The Euro did not perform as well against the USD the German trade balance and French Industrial Production number slightly missing their mark. The main currency that the Euro is performing well against is the GBP as we have seen the GBP/EUR cross rate fall from 1.31 to 1.17 in a two week time period.