Australia: The Australian Dollar has opened almost one US cent higher this morning as global sentiment turned positive overnight.

Yesterday, the AUD looked heavy following some weaker than expected Retail Sales data.

Sales for the month of October fell 1.1%, seasonally adjusted, to $20.2 billion, the biggest drop since July 2009.

Economists had tipped a 0.4% increase. As the AUD headed into the offshore session, it initially lost ground, however sharply higher European stock markets and positive US data saw the AUD rally through USD0.9750.

News that the European Central Bank appear to be keeping special measures to contain the debt crisis also lent support to the high yielding currency.

In our time zone today, we have the Australian AiG PSI Services index for November then the services indexes for China out later in
the morning.

The AUD is expected to range trade locally as the markets wait for US Non-farm payrolls data to be released tonight.

Majors: The US Dollar was sold last night as Wall Street completed a second straight day of gains, lifted by buoyant results in US home sales and retail sales as the holiday shopping season gains momentum.

Strong US private-sector hiring results and solid manufacturing data in the US and China all helped. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.90% while the S&P 500 index, a broader measure of the market, rose 1.28%.

Pending home sales jumped in October by 10.4%, a far better result than forecast, offering a glimmer of hope to the troubled US
housing market.

US retailers and department stores offered more optimism after reporting overall stronger-than-anticipated sales results for November, boosting expectations for the holiday shopping season following its kick-off last week.

Risk appetite has thus been bolstered by a combination of a respectable Spanish Government bond auction, the extension of special market liquidity support facilities by the ECB and improved US data reports.

The European Central Bank's decision to continue stimulus measures in an effort to boost the Euro Zone economy further boosted global stocks markets.

Their decision to maintain lending rates at 1% and continue its program of buying government bonds alleviated recent concerns about Europe's sovereign debt troubles.

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