AUD Strong Out of the Gate
AUD
The AUD continues its upward momentum, kicking off the week higher against most majors, riding off of RBA Governor Bullock's surprisingly hawkish commentary on Friday where she indicated domestic inflation remains too high and that the central bank does not expect to cut rates in the near term. She noted the RBA Board remains focused on the potential upside risks to inflation and that the economic outlook remains highly uncertain. Commodities saw a strong performance, closing in the green with Gold +2.1%, Silver +2.3%, Iron Ore +1.1&, and Copper +0.4%. Asian equities followed the trend with the Hang Seng +1.9%, Nikkei +3.6%, and the ASX finished +1.3%, driven by energy and materials. No local news set for release today, however, we will see China’s 1 and 5-y Loan Prime rate released tomorrow at 11:15am, followed by the RBA Monetary Policy Meeting Minutes at 11:30am tomorrow.
USD
The AUDUSD starts the week off stronger opening at 0.6673, after US Housing Starts for July fell by 6.8% to 1.24M, well below forecasts of a 1.5% decline to 1.34M. The AUD was also helped by RBA Governor Bullock's hawkish comments on Friday, where she noted the central bank's Board remains focused on potential upside risks to domestic inflation. US Building Permits also fell short of expectations, falling 4.0% against expectations of a 2.0% decline. Wall Street saw modest gains with the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all up 0.2%. A quiet news day ahead with only FOMC Member Waller speaking in Washington DC this evening. The main US events this week include the FOMC Meeting Minutes and Flash PMIs on Thursday, as well as Fed Chair Powell's speech at the Jackson Hole Symposium on Friday.
EUR
AUDEUR opens this week higher at 0.6053, reaching near-monthly highs after gaining momentum late Friday evening before retracing this morning. Eurozone equities closed in the green with the DAX +0.8% and the CAC +0.4%. No news out of the Eurozone today, however, it will be a busy week with German PPI m/m, Current Account, Final Core CPI y/y, and Final CPI y/y set for release tomorrow. The main events of the week will be the Eurozone Flash Manufacturing and Services PMI’s set for release this Thursday. Europe's manufacturing sector is expected to have contracted further, while the services sector is forecasted to have expanded.
GBP
The AUDGBP starts the week higher at 0.5152, having crept up slowly from 0.5130 lows on Friday evening with the pair gaining further ground this morning off of softer UK housing inflation data. The Rightmove House Price Index (HPI) m/m came through much lower at -1.5% than previous of -0.4%. UK equities also saw a poorer performance on Friday with the FTSE closing in the red -0.4%. No further data set for release today, with some minor data being released on Wednesday with Public Sector Net Borrowing. As with the USD and Euro, the main Pound event this week will be Flash PMIs on Thursday.
NZD
AUDNZD reached highs of 1.1057 in the Friday session before falling off in the afternoon, trading sideways over the weekend to kick off the week at 1.1016. This morning, the BusinessNZ Services Index which came through much higher at 44.6 from the previous 40.7, indicating the New Zealand services sector continues to contract, albeit at a slower pace than the previous month. The next NZD event will be tomorrow's Trade Balance. The main event for this week will be Retail Sales, on Friday.