AUD Holds Recent Gains
AUD
Increasing tension in the Middle East halts the AUD’s recent push as risk sentiment sullies, with the AUD opening flat against most majors (only a little lower against the USD). Asian equities saw a mixed performance over yesterday’s session with the ASX +0.8%, Nikkei -0.7% and the Shanghai Comp flat. Commodities were also mixed with Crude Oil +2.9%, Natural Gas +0.3%, Gold and Silver both -0.1%, Iron Ore flat, and Copper +0.5%. Not much in the way of data to start the week, only having seen China’s CB Leading Index m/m come in at 0% after previously reading at -0.3%. Another quiet day today with no data to be released both locally and out of China. Our next major event will be tomorrow's local CPI y/y release which is expected to drop from 3.8% to 3.4%. The RBA will want to see further cooling in domestic inflation before seriously considering lowering rates.
USD
The AUDUSD falls close to 20 basis point over the course of yesterday’s session, opening this morning still in a relatively strong position at 0.6774. Wall Street had a mixed performance yesterday with the Dow Jones +0.2%, S&P 500 -0.3% and NASDAQ -0.9%. Yesterday’s Durable Goods Orders rose 9.9%, up from a -6.7% and well above expectations of +4%. The figure is mostly attributed to a hefty increase in transportation equipment which rose +34.8%. Yesterday Fed’s Daly hit the wires reiterating Fed Chair Powell’s dovish shift over the weekend, stating that “it was time to adjust policy though it was too early to determine how big rate cuts could be". He added that the most likely outcome was a continued gradual slowing of inflation and a more sustainable labour market. US Conference Board Consumer Confidence will be released tonight. The index will offer further understanding of consumer optimism in US and is anticipated to have increased slightly, backing up the increase in June.
EUR
The AUDEUR opens flat today at 0.6068 as a lack of economic data keeps the pair subdued. European equities also saw minimal movement with the DAX -0.1% and the CAC +0.2%. Yesterday we saw the German ifo Business Climate come in slightly above expectations of 86 at 86.6 and Belgian NBB Business Climate came in flat at -12.6. Another quiet day ahead for the Eurozone with only the German Final GDP q/q and German GfK Consumer Climate to be released tonight. The Euro will likely be at the whim of the market this week, with the only key release being the Eurozone Flash CPI Estimate y/y on Friday.
GBP
A lack of data and low liquidity due to the UK Summer Bank Holiday causes the AUDGBP pair to open this morning flat at 0.5134. British equities ticked higher yesterday with the FTSE +0.5%. No UK data yesterday. The only data release to look out for today is their CBI Realized Sales which is unlikely to have any effect on currency markets.
NZD
After briefly losing the 1.09 handle yesterday morning the AUDNZD opens today relatively flat at 1.0912. No data released yesterday, and no data out today. in fact, there are only two NZ data events this week. ANZ Business Confidence on Thursday and Building Consents m/m on Friday.