AUD Slides After Weak Labour Report

AUD

Risk-off sentiment continues as the Aussie dollar edges lower against majors overnight, forging new lows in multiple pairings. Asian Equities closed mixed with ASX -0.7%, Shanghai Comp +0.4% and Nikkei -0.4%. No major movement in commodities with Natural Gas -2.5%, Crude Oil +0.9%, Gold and Silver flat, Iron Ore -0.1% and Copper + 0.7%. Yesterday’s Aussie employment data didn’t do much help correct the AUD’s downward trajectory. The Unemployment Rate has risen to 3.7% for July, up from 3.5% in June. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data indicates a 36,000 increase in unemployed individuals, accompanied by a loss of 14,600 jobs in the economy. A quieter day ahead with no data releases locally or out of China. Nex week will be quiet in terms of domestic data too, with our next major Aussie piece being the CPI report on August 30.

USD

The AUDUSD pair touched new 9-month lows overnight after losing the 0.64 handle to reach 0.6364, before slightly retracing to open this morning lower at 0.6402. Wall street closed in the red last night with the Dow Jones and S&P 500 both -0.8%, and NASDAQ -1.2%. US weekly jobless claims were largely as expected with initial claims at 239k compared to expectations of 240k. Also released was the Philly Fed Business Survey which rose from -13.5 to +12.0, easily beating forecasts of -10.4 though the results at the sub-index level were more mixed than the headline beat suggested. No more data out of the US until next week.

EUR

The AUDEUR pair enters new territory, losing the 0.59 handle for the first time since May 2020, seeing lows of 0.5860 before opening this morning at 0.5887. European equities closed lower last night with the DAX -0.7% and the CAC -0.9%. A quiet day for Europe yesterday, only seeing the release of the eurozone Trade Balance which came in above expectations of 3.8B at 12.5B. Today we will see Final CPI and Final Core CPI figures expected at 5.5% y/y and 5.3% y/y respectively, being unchanged from last month.

GBP

The AUDGBP pair flirted with the 0.49 handle after briefly seeing April 2020 lows of 0.5007 before slightly retracing to open this morning at 0.5021. British equities also closed lower with the FTSE loosing 0.6%. No data for the British yesterday. This afternoon we will see the release of Retail Sales m/m which is expected to fall from 0.7% to 0.6%.

NZD

The AUDNZD pair opens somewhat flat this morning at 1.0803, only losing a few basis points compared to yesterday’s open. No new data released yesterday. No data today either, next piece of data to look forward to is Monday's Trade Balance.