All eyes on today's rate announcement from the RBA

Australian Dollar:

As anticipated the Australian Dollar remained within a familiar range of roughly 60 points yesterday as the local bank holiday resulted in very little AUD price action. A job ads report did reveal that there was a significant increase in the number of jobs advertised in September, however this appeared to have a minimal impact on the Aussie value. Upcoming today all attention will be on trade balance figures and the rate announcement from the RBA in the afternoon. With the trade balance expectations to remain near similar levels witnessed the month before the main focus will be on the RBA statement, and although expectations are widely accepted to be a hold on the rate speculators will still be looking out for any hints of an additional rate cut in the coming months. The AUD/USD opens today at 0.7086.

• We expect a range today of AUD/USD 0.7050 – 0.7130

New Zealand Dollar:

The Kiwi starts higher today against most its major counterparts as soft economic data out of the US helped the local currency shift higher throughout trade yesterday. Weak non-manufacturing PMI numbers from the US revealed a less favourable than expected result when looking at Septembers figures. The NZ Dollar traded between lows of NZD/USD 0.6437 and highs of 0.6531, and opens this morning buying 64.98 US cents. Domestic business confidence figures have also been released this morning for the previous quarter that revealed a less than optimistic economic outlook, resulting in the NZD/USD making a sharp turn downwards.

Great British Pound:

The Cable has plunged overnight as disappointing Services PMI data was released yesterday out of the UK. The result exposed figures that trailed forecast by a notable amount, which shows purchasing managers holding a not so favourable view on the current economic situation, and perhaps brings into questions the overall health of the local economy. Traders will look housing price data being released in the evening in the hope for any positive stimulus to help bolster the Pound Sterling after yesterday’s sell off. The GBP opens weaker against its US, Australian, and New Zealand counterparts at 1.5141, 2.1368 and 2.3311 respectively.

• We expect a range today of GBP/AUD 2.1330 – 2.1410

Majors:

The EUR/USD commences trade much weaker this morning as an array of announcements out of the Eurozone with mixed results saw the currency pair fall throughout yesterday’s trade session. Final Services PMI came in slightly under expectations, and a firm upward movements in the French PMI result was unfortunately not enough to counter a combination of poor results out of Germany, Spain and Italy. Investor attention today will turn to Eurogroup and ECOFIN meetings out of the Eurozone, and trade balance data out of the US, all of which look to have a significant impact on the currency pair. The EUR/USD opens at 1.1184.

Data releases:

• AUD: Trade Balance, Cash Rate, RBA Rate Statement
• CAD:Trade Balance, Ivey PMI
• CHF: CPI m/m
• CNY: Bank Holiday
• EUR: German Factory Orders m/m, Retail PMI, ECOFIN Meetings, Eurogroup Meetings, ECB President Draghi Speaks
• GBP: Halifax HPI m/m, Housing Equity Withdrawl q/q
• NZD: NZIER Business Confidence, GDT Price Index

SD: Trade Balance, IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism, FOMC Member Williams Speaks