RBA Cuts OCR, Aussie Extends Weakness

Market Brief

The Reserve Bank of Australia cut its official cash rate to the record low 2.75% to boost the Australian growth still below the trend. Aussie dropped to 1.0178 - its lowest level since March 4th, while ASX 200 retreated 0.24% despite the better-than-expected trade surplus in March. The market news on George Soros selling AUD clearly helped to push the AUD-complex further down. AUDJPY traded to 100.841, while AUDNZD crossed below 1.20 for the first time in almost four years. The sentiment in AUD remains solidly bearish.

In Japan, the FinMin Aso stated that the monetary policy alone cannot fix the Japanese economy and announced that the fiscal reform plan is scheduled by mid-year. USDJPY and JPY crosses were offered in Tokyo. USDJPY remained capped by solid offers towards 99.50 and higher. Japanese exporters sales helped to push the Yen-complex lower. USDJPY is still subject to very strong option resistance around 100-area.

The Asian equity markets were dominated by the Japanese stocks’ rally. The Nikkei 225 rushed 3.55%, Hang Seng and Shanghai’s Composite added 0.22% and 0.05%, while Taiex and Kospi index dropped 0.07% and 0.36%.

Dovish comments from the ECB President Draghi sent the Euro a leg down yesterday afternoon. EURUSD sank as Draghi stated that the ECB is ready to act again if needed. The downside remained well supported at 1.3054. Demand came from Asian sovereign names overnight. EURUSD advanced to 1.3095, yet opened the day on negative sentiment in Europe. EURCHF spiked down to 1.2255 while USDCHF sold-off to 0.9370. The unemployment rate in Switzerland remained unchanged at 3.1% in April while the consumer confidence did not show the expected improvement.

Back from Holidays, the sterling opened the week on the downside in UK. Cable was seen below its 100-day MA (1.5536) this morning, while EURGBP stabilized at 0.8410/20 area after yesterday’s heavy sell-off to 0.8400.

Today, the focus is on the Swiss Foreign Currency Reserves in April, French March Industrial and Manufacturing Production m/m & y/y, Swedish March Industrial Production, German March Factory Orders m/m & y/y and US May IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism.