Australian Dollar:
The Aussie opens weaker this morning at AUD/USD 0.8079 after trending slightly downwards over yesterday’s session. With no domestic economic announcements throughout the day the local currency took direction from overseas markets, with positive US unemployment figures sending the Australian dollar down to overnight lows of 0.8059. With a clear economic docket again on the horizon the Aussie will once again look to the US for any direction overnight, however with only moderate impact reports on the cards, limited AUD volatility is expected heading into the weekend.
We expect a range today of 0.8030 – 0.8110
New Zealand Dollar:
With strong retail sales data being reported yesterday the NZ dollar rallied quite early in the day reaching intraday highs of NZD/USD0.7564. The data released from Statistics New Zealand showed that retail sales had increased by 2.7% for the first quarter of 2015 surpassing expectations of a 1.6% increase. In overnight markets US dollar strength saw the Kiwi move downwards throughout trade bottoming out at NZD/USD0.7475, and opens weaker this morning at 0.7491. With no local economic releases scheduled investor attention will turn to the US for any NZD price action.
Great British Pound:
After concluding a relatively lacklustre trading session yesterday the pound sterling opens stronger across the board today at GBP/USD1.5775. After a slow start to the day due to no local announcements overnight markets saw the US release positive employment figures which witnessed a dip in the Cable. Furthermore BOE Governor Carney indicated that the central bank would not look to raise interest rates in the near future, pointing to a hike perhaps next year. However, the GBP slowly recovered throughout the remainder of the session, and moved upwards to commence trade higher at 1.9522 and 2.1048 against the Aussie and Kiwi respectively.
We expect a range today of GBP/AUD 1.9480 – 1.9560
Majors:
With several bank holidays in the Eurozone yesterday and no domestic announcements, the EUR/USD movements were dictated mostly by economic reports out of the US. Unemployment claims filed by individuals over the last week saw a slight improvement by dropping from 265,000 to 264,000, and surpassing expectations of an increase to 272,000, however inflationary data for April came in under forecast at -0.4% missing prospects of a 0.1% increase. In the Eurozone there has been speculation the Greek government could ask for an emergency Euro group meeting to discuss liquidity before the end of the month, however if they fail to meet their upcoming debt requirements concerns would significantly weight down the value of the bloc currency. The EUR/USD commences this morning at 1.1408.
Data releases:
CAD: Manufacturing Sales m/m, Foreign Securities Purchases
CHF: PPI m/m
GBP: Construction Output m/m, CB Leading Index m/m
JPY: PPI y/y, BOJ Gov Kuroda Speaks, Consumer Confidence
USD: Empire State Manufacturing Index, Capicity Utilization Rate, Industrial Production m/m, Prelim UOM Consumer Sentiment, Prelim UOM Inflation Expectations, TIC Long-Term Purchases