Daily Currency Update

AUD - Australian Dollar

The Australian dollar is slightly weaker this morning when valued against the Greenback. The AUD/USD pair traded between 0.6854 – 0.6820 on Thursday but remained within familiar levels and not far from its weekly high. On the release front yesterday the Australian retail sales turnover was relatively unchanged (0.0 per cent) in October, seasonally adjusted, according to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Retail Trade figures. We also saw the release of Trade Balance data for the month of October. The October Trade Balance surplus was of 4502M, well below the 6100M expected, with exports down by 5.0% in the month, and imports unchanged.

Looking ahead today on the data front and we will see the November AIG Performance of Construction Index, previously at 43.9. From a technical perspective, the AUD/USD pair is currently trading at 0.6835. We continue to expect support to hold on moves approaching 0.6800 while now any upward push will likely meet resistance around 0.6865.

Key Movers

The Greenback fell for a fifth straight session on Thursday, undermined by recent weaker-than-expected U.S. economic data and this week’s robust performance by the euro and the British pound. On the release front yesterday in the US the trade deficit came in better than expected to its lowest level in nearly 1-1/2 years in October to $47.2 billion, the smallest since May 2018. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits, on the other hand, dropped 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 203,000 for the week ended Nov. 30, the lowest level since mid-April. Looking ahead to Friday’s employment data release and the US economy is expected to have added 180K new jobs in November after adding 128K in October. The unemployment rate is foreseen steady at 3.6%, while wages’ growth is also seen within familiar levels, up by 0.3% MoM and by 3.0% when compared to a year earlier.

Expected Ranges