AUD Buoyant Ahead of Chinese Rates Announcement
AUD
The Aussie dollar opens up against major currencies this morning, coming off the back of a strong rally across the board after business hours on Friday. The ASX finished 0.1% lower on Friday with energy leading the losses. Asian equities were mixed to close the week with the Hang Seng down 2.1% while the Nikkei added 0.5%. At 12:30pm today we'll see China's 1y and 5y Loan Prime Rate announcements, largely expected to stay put at 3.45% and 4.2% respectively. Recent data from China has shown a modest improvement in their economic recovery, which combined with concerns about CNY weakness, means rate cuts are likely off the table for the time being. RBA Governor Bullock is set to speak tomorrow morning along with our Monetary Policy Meeting Minutes which should dictate some direction in the short term.
USD
AUDUSD opens higher at 0.6507, after a strong rally experienced after business hours on Friday has brought us back up to the highs we saw on Thursday. Wall St. saw small moves on Friday to close out a strong week, with the S&P 500 up 0.2%, Dow flat and Nasdaq up 0.1%. The yield on the US 10- year note held steady at 4.43%. Friday was a negative day overall for US data with almost all the data release missing expectation. The main points will be the Unemployment Claims and Industrial Production m/m being the most important data that came in lower than expected. With no data set to be released today, all eyes will be on Wednesday morning's FOMC Meeting Minutes which could be viewed as somewhat stale given that since the meeting both labour market and inflation data have been soft. Nonetheless, markets may focus on any indication of the economic condition required for the Fed to shift its policy stance.
EUR
AUDEUR opens slightly higher at 0.5960 after reaching 0.5992 highs on Friday evening. European equities finished up across the board with the DAX 0.8% higher and the CAC 0.9% higher. European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde on Friday stated that Europe is now at a critical juncture, with deglobalization, demographics and decarbonization looming on the horizon, “As new trade barriers appear, we will need to reassess supply chains and invest in new ones that are safer, more efficient and closer to home,” Lagarde said in the keynote speech.
GBP
AUDGBP opens higher this morning at 0.5228, with another after-hours rally occurring on Friday to highs of 0.5238, before tracing back down and holding in the area of where we open today. The FTSE made strong gains, rising 1.3%. The Retail Sales m/m delivered below expectations on Friday night, coming in at -0.3% from the expected 0.5%. With Governor Bailey set to speak on Tuesday morning at the Henry Plumb Lecture, people will be paying close attention to understand what possible actions he may take in the future.
NZD
AUDNZD opens higher at 1.0885, trading sideways since the late hours on Friday. Positive Kiwi data showed PPI Input q/q 1.0% higher than expected, as well as PPI Output q/q +0.4% higher than expected. No data ahead of tomorrow's Trade Balance release.