Australian Dollar: Christmas has come early for Australian importers as the dollar continued to trade just below parity in local trade yesterday. It wasn’t until the start of the European session that the AUD got moving breaking through the 1 cent level comfortably to eventually trade between 0.9990 and 1.0060. With little data scheduled for release locally and offshore, and many traders squaring up before the start of the holiday season, movement during today is expected to be limited at best.

We expect a range today of 0.9975 to 1.0075

New Zealand Dollar: New Zealand Gross Domestic Product (GDP) disappointed yesterday and led to a 50 basis point drop in the Kiwi against the Greenback on release. The result came in at -0.2% for the third quarter (expected 0.1%; previous 0.2%) as the economy contracted due to the worst earthquake in 8 years and slowdown in housing and manufacturing put the brakes on growth. In offshore trade NZDUSD moved between 0.7450 and 0.7500 as traders weighed up the implications of the GDP release and its impact on interest rates.

We expect a range today of 0.7430 to 0.7500

Great British Pound: The Pound traded between 1.5350 and 1.5435 overnight as lack of meaningful data and traders squaring up their positions limited any movements last night. Despite a weaker reading in the BBA Mortgage Approvals (actual 30,000; previous 30,700) this did little to spark traders into selling the Pound down further against the Greenback. Against its southern hemisphere rivals the Pound is exchanging hands at 1.5335 versus the Australian Dollar and 2.0620 against the New Zealand Dollar.

We expect a range today of 1.5250 to 1.5400

Majors: The EURO rallied briefly against the US Dollar last night recouping some of its recent losses. However this changed quickly as Fitch downgraded by one level Portugals debt rating on concerns about financing by the government and banks. This pushed the EURO down from a high of 1.3150 to 1.3050. News stateside reflected positively on the US economy and future growth with a raft of data all coming into positive, indicting some momentum in the economy. Core Durable Goods, Unemployment Claims and Personal Spending all came in just above forecast. The US Dollar is against the Japanese Yen (82.89).


Data releases

AUD: No data due for release

NZD: No data due for release

JPY: No data due for release

GBP: No data due for release

EUR: German and Italian Bank Holiday

USD: Durable Goods; Unemployment Claims, Revised UoM Consumer Sentiment and Inflation Expectations

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