AUD improves on the back of employment data

OzForex Research OzForex Foreign Exchange

AUD - Australian Dollar

The Australian dollar saw some nice improvement yesterday, hitting a daily high of 0.6785 during yesterday’s trading session. The gains were owing to better than expected employment data, which reported 41,000 new jobs being created in July compared to the forecasted 14,200 and the unemployment rate holding steady at 5.2%.

The RBA will release their monetary policy meeting minutes just before midday on Tuesday. A detailed record of the Reserve Bank Board’s most recent meeting, it provides in-depth insights into the economic conditions that influenced their decision on where to set interest rates.

The AUD opened at 0.6774 this morning against the USD.

Key Movers

The European Central Bank announced yesterday that it will announce a ‘very strong package’ of stimulus measures at its next policy meeting in September. ECB policymaker Governor Rehn said he favoured the ECB restarting quantitative easing as well as interest rate cuts in September, and the stimulus package may overshoot investors’ expectations.

The US-China trade war saw some developments as Beijing announced it would impose counter-measures in response to the United State’s plan to raise tariffs on $300 billion worth of Chinese goods. Officials have said they will attempt to meet the US half-way to finalise a deal, but President Trump has insisted any breakthrough will be on Washington’s terms.

In terms of macroeconomic news the Canadian CPI data being released next Wednesday night is expected to have a major impact on the CAD. Released monthly, these figures are the most important inflation-related release due to its earliness and broad scope.

Expected Ranges

AUD/CAD: 0.8975 - 0.9250 ▼

AUD/EUR: 0.6025 - 0.6130 ▼

GBP/AUD: 1.7605 - 1.7955 ▼

AUD/NZD: 1.0470 - 1.0580 ▲

AUD/USD: 0.6720 - 0.6815 ▼

Author

OzForex Research

OzForex Foreign Exchange

EUR/USD makes a U-turn, focus on 1.1900

EUR/USD’s recovery picks up further pace, prompting the pair to retarget the key 1.1900 barrier amid further loss of momentum in the US Dollar on Wednesday. Moving forward, investors are expected to remain focused on upcoming labour market figures and the always relevant US CPI prints on Thursday and Friday, respectively.

GBP/USD sticks to the bullish tone near 1.3660

GBP/USD maintains its solid performance on Wednesday, hovering around the 1.3660 zone as the Greenback surrenders its post-NFP bounce. Cable, in the meantime, should now shift its attention to key UK data due on Thursday, including preliminary GDP gauges.

Gold holds on to higher ground ahead of the next catalyst

Gold keeps the bid tone well in place on Wednesday, retargeting the $5,100 zone per troy ounce on the back of modest losses in the US Dollar and despite firm US Treasury yields across the curve. Moving forward, the yellow metal’s next test will come from the release of US CPI figures on Friday.