Australian Dollar:
Despite enjoying a brief stint back above parity yesterday the Australian dollar has fallen for a seventh consecutive day overnight, close to the longest losing streak witnessed since August 2011. Tumbling to its lowest point seen in over 11 months, speculation has continued to mount that the RBA will cut borrowing costs again in an attempt to support the economy. In a statement which accompanied the federal budget release yesterday growth expectations have now been factored down from 3 percent to 2.75 percent over the coming 12 months starting July 1. Having reached lows of 0.9876 against its US Counterpart a strong Greenback continues to do the higher yielding asset no favours as the Aussie opens half a cent lower this morning at a rate of 0.9892

We expect a range today of 0.9860 – 0.9930

New Zealand Dollar
In statistics released from New Zealand yesterday Retail Sales have accelerated by a smaller than expected amount over the past quarter with growth of 0.5 percent coming in well below the forecasted read of 0.9 percent. Setting off on the wrong foot the New Zealand dollar has been sold for much of the past 24 hours not helped by a Greenback which has continued to appreciate. Having started the day at a rate of 0.8247 lows of 0.8180 were briefly as the Kiwi opens this morning weaker by a half a cent as it currently buys 81.99 US Cents. On the outlook today the focus is likely to remain in the US with improved data flows only set to further improve the prospects of the US dollar.

We expect a range today of 0.8170 – 0.8230

Great British Pound:
It has been a familiar story for the Great British Pound overnight which has managed to fair a lot better against both the Aussie and the Kiwi than compared to the Greenback. Tainted by a US dollar which has continued to appreciate, confidence and optimism across the board has come a long in over the past week. In news closer to home a UK house price gauge rose to its highest level in almost three years last month as the government pledged 3.5 billion pound of loans plus 130 billion pound of guarantees in March for the housing market alone. Tumbling to lows of 1.5219 the Sterling opens down against the Greenback (1.5220) however stronger against both the Aussie (1.5383) and the Kiwi (1.8557)

We expect a range today of 1.5350 – 1.5410

Majors:
The US Dollar has continued its recent upward trend over the past 24 hours with data from the world’s largest economy suggesting that growth is slowly improving. With investors once again starting to consider a world without quantitative easing if the Federal Reserve was at some point set to reduce its existing stimulus measures the net effect on the Greenback would be profound. Moving to overnight highs of 102.392 the Greenback’s strength has been there for to see as witnessed by its notably stronger levels against the Japanese Yen this morning which currently sits at 102.36. Despite an overnight session which offered little in the form of economic data there are several critical growth figures due to be released from broader Europe this evening as well as key manufacturing and Industrial Production readings in the US. With the S&P advancing to its eight record high in the past nine session optimism is running high that data flows will continue to support the notion of improved growth. Meanwhile this morning the Euro has struggled to keep pace with the Greenback as it opens weaker by 0.4 percent at 1.2935.

Data releases

AUD:
New Motor Vehicle Sales m/m, Wage Price Index m/m

NZD: No data today

JPY:
Consumer Confidence

GBP: Claimant Count Change, Average Earnings Index 3m/u, Unemployment Rate, BOE King Speaks, BOE Inflation Report

EUR:
French Prelim GDP q/q, Italian Prelim GDP q/q, Flash GDP q/q

USD:
PPI m/m, Empire State Manufacturing Index, TIC Long-Term Purchases, Capacity Utilization Rate, Industrial Production m/m

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