AUD Slides as Markets Favour USD

AUD

The AUD opens lower against most majors as traders continue to opt for the Greenback in an attempt to de-risk ahead of the upcoming US election. Asian equities were mostly weaker, led by the Hang Seng and Shenzhen down -1.3% and -1.1% respectively while the Nikkei managed 0.1%. The ASX closed -0.1% with IT the biggest mover, down -2.9%. Commodities were mostly up with Natural Gas +2.6%, Iron Ore +1.2%, Copper +0.7%, Silver +0.3%, Gold +0.1% and Crude Oil -0.4%. Today we will have RBA’s Annual Report and China’s Foreign Direct Investment set as tentative. Key news for next week will be Australia's CPI report on Wednesday.
 

USD

AUDUSD opens relatively flat at 0.6636, trading at 6-week lows despite strong figures from Unemployment Claims last night (227k, exp 243k), hinting at further tightness in the US labour market. Last night we saw Flash Manufacturing PMI and Flash Services PMI figures come in slightly above expectations at 47.8 (exp. 47.5) and 55.3 (exp 55.0) respectively. New Home Sales jumped 4.1% to an adjusted annual rate of 738k units last month, being the highest level since May 2023. Equities were mixed with Dow Jones -0.3%, S&P 500 +0.3% and NASDAQ posting largest gains at +0.8%. Tonight, we will have Core Durable Goods Orders m/m forecasted at -0.1% (prv 0.5%) and their Durable Goods Orders m/m forecasted at -1.1%. Key news over the weekend will be October’s revised University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment report.
 

EUR

AUDEUR opens lower at 0.6130, having hit 0.6166 in the overnight session. French Flash Manufacturing PMI and Flash Services PMI missed expected results at 44.5 (exp 44.9) and 48.3 (exp 49.8) respectively. German’s Flash Manufacturing PMI and German Flash Services PMI results came in above expectations at 42.6 (exp 40.7) and 51.4 (50.6) respectively. Eurozone’s Flash Manufacturing PMI came in above expectations at 45.9 (45.1) however their Flash Services PMI missed expectations at 51.2 (exp 51.5). Equities opened stronger with DAX +0.3% and CAC +0.1%. Today, markets will focus on the Eurozone’s business climate data and key points for next week will be on Wednesday with release of German’s Preliminary CPI for October.
 

GBP

AUDGBP opens lower at 0.5109, dropping from 0.5117 in the overnight session. October PMIs missed with Flash Manufacturing PMI at 50.3 from the forecasted 51.5 and their Flash Services PMI at 51.8 from the forecasted 52.3. The FTSE saw a slight rise at +0.1%. Today we will have a quiet day to finish the week. Key points for next week will be Thursday with the Bank of England interest rate decision and Monetary Policy Report.
 

NZD

AUDNZD opens lower at 1.1041 with no news out over the past 24h. It will be a quiet day today, however, Monday will be Labour Day for our neighbours resulting in a bank holiday for them. To next week - Thursday we have ANZ Business Confidence and Friday, Building Consents for October.