Daily Currency Update

AUD - Australian Dollar

The Australian Dollar erased all of its gains to levels just above the 71c handle vs the US Dollar yesterday which saw the pair touch a low of 0.7064 in the North American session. Intraday AUD/USD managed to gain some traction and hit 0.7106 on the back of job vacancy numbers, according to the ABS, job vacancies rose 1.4% in the three months to February, and were up 9.9% y/y, marking its eleventh straight rise in job vacancies and is a record run of gains. Unfortunately, the gains were short-lived and sellers emerged weary of global uncertainties in the wake of the EU moving in crisis mode as it plans for a no-deal Brexit. The EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, told diplomats during Thursday’s meeting that a no deal was now “the most plausible outcome”.

Looking ahead, locally sees the release of Private Sector Credit and investors now await more details on the progress in the US-China trade negotiations for some meaningful impetus as well as of course…Brexit.

Adopting a technical viewpoint, we see initial AUD/USD support at 0.7050 before 0.7000 (psychological level) on the downside. On the topside, first lines of resistance are seen at the 50 day moving average level of 0.7100 followed by 0.7160.

Key Movers

The Pound Sterling has tumbled nearly 1.5% lower from 1.3250 down to 1.3040 vs the US Dollar as Brexit votes failed to win majority support keeping the current Brexit deadline in place. The EU have agreed to a delay until May 22nd if the lawmakers back the deal otherwise April 12th will be the deadline. Prime Minister May has said she will step down if her deal gets passed however, it’s unlikely to gain enough support as a large number of the Democratic Union Party, which props up May's coalition government, has said it will vote against the Withdrawal Agreement as it included the Irish backstop.

Despite the third and final annual reading for US GDP reporting an annualised increase of 2.2% where economists were expecting a growth rate of 2.4% the Greenback, US equites and US bond yields all moved higher overnight. Meanwhile, US initial Jobless claims fell 5k to 211k in the week ending March 23, the four-week moving average also fell to 217k, the trend in the series suggests the labour market remains healthy. In other news, the Dow Jones closed up 92 points (or 0.4%) and the S&P 500 index finished 10 points higher (or 0.4%).

Expected Ranges