Daily Currency Update
AUD - Australian DollarThe Australian Dollar outperformed expectations overnight despite mixed local data to open this morning at 0.6756. Initially the Aussie came under pressure as a slew of domestic data undermined valuations, nevertheless the Aussie received a bit of good fortune with the Greenback weakening overnight. Starting at home, the Aussie first turned to the quarterly current account which saw a surplus for the first time since 1975. The news was mostly ignored by the market however, with another soft retail sales reading taking center stage and sending the Aussie to as low as 0.6695. The dampened enthusiasm continued well into the afternoon with the RBA keeping rates at record lows of 1% and broadening their easing bias to include global considerations. Nevertheless, the Aussie did nudge its way back above 0.67. The Aussie then became one of the beneficiaries of a sliding Greenback which saw the Aussie lift considerably to nudge its way past 0.6750. Moving into Wednesday, the Aussie now turns to an important quarterly GDP reading as well as Chinese PMI data for direction.
Key Movers
The United States Dollar finds itself under pressure this morning following a weak ISM manufacturing report which saw the headline index fall to 49.1 against expectations of 51.2. The market interpreted the news as a signal that US manufacturing is indeed weakening as much as the rest of the global manufacturing sector and that the Trade War was starting to bite. Adding fuel to the fire was a few more salvos in the Trade War with president Trump remaining defiant despite a number of headwinds. Trump suggested that a trade deal with China would be much tougher should he win the 2020 election and that the EU could also be in the firing line. The poor data and escalations in the Trade War leave the door open for future Federal Reserve easing which has led the Greenback lower. The US Dollar Index found itself nearly 0.5% lower from its multi-year high. The Great British Pound also again enters a key movers section with a roller coaster session overnight leaving the Sterling trading at 1.2088 this morning. The Pound has been trading on Brexit for some time now with Tuesday being no exception. The Sterling initially hit lows of 1.190 before recovering to as high as 1.21 before settling somewhere in between as Boris Johnson lost his majority in Parliament. With the chance of avoiding a No-Deal Brexit suddenly receiving an increased chance the Pound recovered slightly.
Expected Ranges
- AUD/CAD: 0.8992 - 0.9039 ▼
- AUD/EUR: 0.6123 - 0.6194 ▲
- GBP/AUD: 1.7851 - 1.7922 ▼
- AUD/NZD: 1.0636 - 1.0714 ▲
- AUD/USD: 0.6723 - 0.6799 ▼