Australian Dollar
Expected Range 0.7560 – 0.7660
The Australian dollar finished the week above the 76 cent mark against the USD despite a rate cut earlier in the week and a positive jobs number out of the US on Friday. After starting the day at 0.7627 the AUD managed to hit intraday highs purchasing 0.7664 USD before a positive US jobs number on Friday gave the Greenback strength against all major currencies including the AUD. The AUD then pulled back from the highs and briefly dropped below 76 cents before ending the day at 0.7615. The week ahead is shaping up to be a fairly quiet data week locally so direction will be taken from overseas releases including the Chinese Trade balance out today, the RBNZ Interest rate decision and the US Retails Sales data which are both out later in the week.
New Zealand Dollar
Expected Range 0.7080 – 0.7180
The NZD finished the week down against the USD after losing ground late on Friday due to a strengthening Greenback. The NZD is in a bit of a holding pattern in the lead up to the Interest Rate decision on Thursday where the RBNZ is widely tipped to cut rates from 2.25% to 2.00%. The strong Non-Farm Employment data gave the USD support late in the week and saw the USD appreciate against the major currencies. The NZD is currently buying 0.7132 USD.
Great British Pound
Expected Range 1.7080 – 1.7380
The Pound lost further ground against the US Dollar as a better than expected reading in Non-Farm Employment increased bets that that a potential increase rate hike is on the cards when the US Federal Reserve meet next. Cable moved between 1.3050 and 1.3150 on the news with many in the markets expecting further US positive data to push the Greenback up against a basket of currencies. Tuesday’s Manufacturing Production on Tuesday is the pick of UK data this week with the number expected to show a sharp contraction in this space. Sterling starts the week trading at 1.7140 against the Australian dollar and 1.8280 against the New Zealand Dollar.
Majors
Expected Range N/A
The USD was given a significant boost off the back of the Non-Farm Employment number increasing the number of jobs by 255,000 vs expectations of 180,000. With the markets looking keenly at the US for any indication that the Fed may look to raise rates in the near future a strong job number is one of the key indicators that they will look at. In Japan the JPY Current account will be released this morning with expectations expand to 1.6T from the last reading which came in at 1.41T.