Upbeat labour data from Australia

Today's Highlights

Pound rallies as pro unionists camp lead in the opinion polls

RBNZ leave rates on hold

Upbeat labour data from Australia

FX Market Overview

The Pound has regained some of its lost ground overnight as recent opinion polls suggest that yes campaign has lost a little bit of momentum over the last 48 hours. As "Team Westminster" finally got their act together an opinion poll from the Daily Record had the no camp back in the lead with 53% of voters that had made up their mind. As RBS and Lloyds revealed contingency plans to relocate in England if the yes vote is successful perhaps the financial implications of leaving the union is beginning to dawn on Scottish voters. The Vote is not until next Thursday so expect the volatility to remain in the currency markets and sterling to be influenced by the swings in opinion polls until the result is finally known.

Elsewhere the Reserve bank of New Zealand left policy unchanged as expected however the accompanying statement was dovish reiterating expectations for an adjustment lower in the Kiwi and played down talks of future interest rate hikes, causing the New Zealand dollar to weaken significantly. The actual projections are still in line with market expectations so this weakness may well be short lived.

In Australia , August employment data was released coming in with a much stronger reading at 121k versus an expectation of only +15k people employed. Most of the gain can be attributed to part time employment however jobless rate also fell below its previous 12 year low to 6.1%. As China prepares to add stimulus after softer inflation data was reported there is room for the Australian dollar to consolidate in the short term.

Looking ahead to today there is another sparse data diary with the ECB's monthly report the only release of note. Mario Draghi , President of the ECB , is also due to speak later today in Milan. In light of the data vacuum his thoughts may well garner more attention than usual.