Kiwi is the day’s big earner as wider markets remain flat

Key Movers

The Australian dollar opened the Australian trading session down against the Greenback for the fourth consecutive day after gaining initially during the American session. Following a sharp correction downwards, the pair oscillated between 0.7561 and 0.7537 to ultimately tread water around the 0.7540 mark. The continual, incremental decline of the Aussie this week has primarily been driven by a softening equities market and broader macro-economic clues in the international market. Closing out the week, the Aussie looks to off shore clues for further direction. The lack of domestic data continues next week with direction being derived from overseas announcements including US GDP and Unemployment Claims.


The New Zealand Dollar saw minimal movements yesterday as it remains in this week’s trading range between 0.72 and 0.73 cents against the US Dollar. Early movements higher on Thursday were supported by RBNZ’s decision to keep interest rates on hold as expected at the benchmark rate of 1.75%. RBNZ Governor Glenn Wheeler expects an uptick in economic growth domestically, advancing the Kiwi higher to 0.7265 before trading sideways till close. Markets are now pricing a 60% chance of the next rate move to be higher by Mid 2018 as inflation remained moderate with expectations to increase gradually. With little economic news releases offshore, volatility was low overnight as the NZD/USD cross hit an overnight high of 0.7272 and opens at 0.7260 this morning. 


The Great British Pound is slightly weaker this morning when valued against the US Dollar. The Pound Sterling hit an overnight low of 1.2654. Prime Minister Theresa May was in Brussels as she holds talks on Brexit with EU leaders for the first time since losing her majority at the general election. British Prime Minister Theresa May is trying to form a majority government. On the local data front, there are no macroeconomic data releases scheduled for today.  The GBP/USD pair is currently trading at 1.2678. We now expect support to hold on moves approaching 1.2630 while any upward push will likely meet resistance around 1.2690. 


The U.S Dollar held near one month highs through trade on Thursday as the markets and investors appeared to merely mark time and take stock of recent gains in what was a session free of headline domestic data. An uptick in house prices and steady labour market data were offset by a lower bond and treasury yields as demand for the worlds base currency falters and investors amend long positions. Maintaining a 50-point range against the Yen the dollar opens this morning buying 111.30 JPY while the Euro moved marginally lower, slipping through 1.1150 to touch intraday lows at 1.1139. Attentions now turn to a raft of European Manufacturing and services data for direction into the weekend. With support for the 19 nation combined unit growing on improved macroeconomic indicators and whisperings of amendments to quantitative easing on the rise then a strong print could force the Euro back toward resistance at 1.1190/1.12.