The US dollar was weaker across the board as data from Europe, the UK and Australia fuelled movements across all sessions of trade yesterday. The Australian dollar continued on from the 0.8% rise in retail sales pushing it above 95 US cents were it has sat through to this morning. The Euro was helped by a jump in Investor confidence data and manufacturing index’s that showed expansion for a fourth straight move. The Pound benefitted from quite strong construction PMI which expanded at the fastest pace since October of 2007 and ahead of expectations. The Pound came within 22 pips of the 1.60 USD mark whilst the Euro was able to trade as high as 1.3524 USD.
The US dollar was not helped through its own session after softer factory orders were released which missed the median expectations. From a directional viewpoint it does seem like the US dollar strength that we have seen since the 23rd of October has stabilised at current levels across the major pairs. The Canadian dollar however continues to lose ground as the Oil price sinks to 4 month lows.
Our local session will trundle along until this afternoon where we have the RBA decision which will see rates on hold. The market will closely digest the statement to see if there has been any change from the previous statement and that is where the trading movement will arise, with traders looking reference to the high Australian dollar previously mentioned by Governor Stevens’ speech last week
Joel Murphy
www.pepperstone.com Joel Murphy is a currency analyst and market commentator for Forex Broker Pepperstone and he regularly features on Sky Business News Australia. He has worked in both retail and institutional Forex for last 8 years and completed a Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor of Arts from Monash University
