Australian Dollar
In a report released yesterday the sale of new homes for the month of July declined 5.6 percent, emphasising that the housing segment remains one of the weakest links of the local economy. Doing little to improve the prospects of the Australian dollar, the higher yielding asset has failed to gain much traction over the past 24 hours trading between a condensed range of (1.0344 – 1.0372) against its US Counterpart. With Australian equity markets also likely to open flat this morning it appears investors are likely to sit on the side lines leading up to preliminary GDP figures which are due for release out of the US this evening. Meanwhile this morning with commodity prices softening and global growth concerns likely to linger for sometime the Aussie Dollar opens overall unchanged currently trading at 1.0372.

We expect a range today of 1.0330 - 1.0400

New Zealand Dollar
The New Zealand Dollar has lost ground against its US Counterpart for much of the past 24 hours, weighed down by the fact investors are awaiting the outcome of the Jackson Hole symposium which kicks off Friday. With Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S Bernanke likely to give further guidance on future stimulus measures currency movements have been somewhat muted of late. Drifting to an overnight low of 0.8030 against the Greenback, in the absence of any local data today direction is again likely to be hard to find with interim support kicking in around the critical 80 US Cents level. Meanwhile this morning the New Zealand dollar opens weaker by 30 basis points, currently buying 80.41 US Cents.

We expect a range today of 0.8010 – 0.8080

Great British Pound:
With very little in the form of economic data to provide support for the Great British Pound in the early parts of this week it has again been chatter surrounding US Monetary Policy which has dominated headlines. Drifting to an overnight high of 1.5835 against its US Counterpart, drivers behind price action have been relatively weak as the Sterling opens around one third of a US Cent Stronger at 1.5815. Making news in neighbouring Europe, Catalonia the largest of Spain’s 17 autonomous regions has sought a 5 billion Euro bailout, almost a third of the bailout package set-up by the governments PM Mariano Rajoy in July. Meanwhile this morning the Sterling opens noticeably stronger against both the Aussie (1.5236) and the Kiwi (1.9650)

We expect a range today of 1.5190 – 1.5280

Majors:
US Stocks retreated overnight after a report showed Consumer Confidence in the world’s largest economy had fallen by its largest margin in 10 months. Highlighting the pessimistic outlook of many households, investors will receive some clear insight as to what the overall effect on growth has been given US Gross Domestic Products Figures are due for release overnight this evening. Despite the overall pessimistic outlook market movements have remained subdued in the early parts of this week as investors await Ben S Bernanke’s speech in 3 days time at the Jackson Hole Summit as well as any expected moves out of the ECB which aren’t likely to be known until early September. In saying this, ECB President Mario Draghi did announce he will not be attending the Jackson Hole Symposium overnight triggering hopes that the ECB”s next plan of attack could be made public sooner. Triggering extension gains against its US Counterpart the EURO reached an overnight high of 1.2592 as we open this morning close a full cent stronger at 1.2564

Data releases

AUD:
Construction Work done q/q

NZD: No data today

JPY:
No data today

GBP: Nationwide HPI m/m

EUR:
Italian Retail Sales

USD:
Prelim GDP q/q, Pending Home Sales m/m