Happy New Year, Thanks for Your Readership
AUD
The AUD remains steady heading into the close of 2021, with holiday season keeping currency markets relatively subdued. With no local data, the AUD takes influence from any closing of positions or end-of-year flows, and with less liquidity in markets it could be expected for some choppier movement in thin conditions. Asian Equities were mixed, with the ASX flat on the day. Commodities were higher with Iron Ore taking +2.2% gains, a strong performance to cap off a turbulent year. Looking ahead, the earliest notable domestic data won’t be released ‘til the third week of January, with employment data first queue. With 2021 coming to a finale, FX Corp and the team would love to wish everyone a Happy New Year, thank-you for your support throughout the year and we look forward to an even more prosperous 2022. We’ll be back in the office on Tuesday the 4th.
USD
The AUDUSD is trading at yesterday’s mark of 0.7250, although it crept up to heights of 0.7275 earlier on, the highest since mid-November. US weekly jobless claims came in marginally better than expected with initial claims at 198k to beat forecasts of 206k, while continuing claims fell to 1.716m, beating forecasts of 1.868m. Released a little later, Chicago PMI for December printed at 63.1, up from 61.8 and better than expectations of 62.0. There was little reaction from currency markets to either piece of data. US Equities all making ground into positive territory, with the S&P 500 on course for a massive near-28% annual gain. The US will be the first print notable data in 2022, with their Manufacturing PMIs and Jolts Job Openings leading things off.
EUR
The AUDEUR trading within tight ranges, trading at 0.6406 this morning. European Equity markets generally closed with small gains, with both the DAX and the CAC up +0.2%. Spanish CPI grew by +1.3% in December, much higher than the forecast of +0.3%. European Central Bank governing council member Klaas Knot said on Thursday that the bank could end its bond-buying programmes sooner if inflation continues to surprise on the upside. Knot added that it is now appropriate for the bank to prepare for gradual monetary policy normalisation and that the ECB is close to "mission accomplished" on inflation.
GBP
The AUDGBP is trading marginally lower than yesterday’s levels, currently sitting at 0.5368. UK house prices grew by 1% in December taking the annual increase to 10.4%. UK Equities were slightly lower with the FTSE losing -0.2% on the day. Neither data carried any serious weighting and were largely ignored by markets which look to wrap up the year.
NZD
The AUDNZD continues to trade sideways with little to see here, trading at 1.0618 this morning. Noteworthy Kiwi data is far and few between at the moment, obviously the holiday season gives a bit of a break however our cross-Tasman siblings aren’t posting any top-tier data until early February. Direction will largely be taken from risk-sentiment and commodities in near-future.