Australian Dollar: The Australian Dollar fell from just shy of parity yesterday to 0.9950 as news hit the wires that Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced that the cost of the recent funding in Queensland would take 0.5% off of Australia's GDP and that the rebuilding cost would be in the region of AUD5.6 billion. During the offshore session the local unit traded between 0.9891 and 0.9969 as markets took on board the PM's comments. The Australian Dollar may face some heightened volatility as we enter the weekend with the release Stateside of some top tier data including Advanced GDP and University of Michigan's Consumer Sentiment Survey.

We expect a range today of 0.9850 to 0.9950

New Zealand Dollar: Despite the decision by the RBNZ to leave interest on hold yesterday, the Kiwi spent the majority of the Asian session above the 77 cents mark. During the offshore trade the NZ Dollar traded between 0.7670 and 0.7746 as traders hedged their bets on when they foresee the Reserve Bank of New Zealand starting its second round of tightening. Many expect this will not occur until later in the year or until the economy is robust enough to cope with an increase. Against the Australian Dollar the Kiwi is trading at 0.7791 (1.2835).

We expect a range today of 0.7650 to 0.7750

Great British Pound: The effects of the release yesterday of the Bank of England's minutes from its previous meeting did little to hamper the markets appetite for Pounds, with the Sterling spending the majority of Asian trade above the 1.59 mark. During the European and US session, CABLE traded between 1.5878 and 1.5990. There is a feeling in the markets that the BoE (Bank of England) will potentially need to act very soon in raising the official cash rate as inflationary pressures in the medium term look set to increase. Against the Australian and New Zealand Dollar, the Pound is currently changing hands at 1.6030 and 2.0600 respectively.

We expect a range today of 1.5900.to 1.6100

Majors: The US Dollar rallied briefly against the Japanese Yen yesterday as a release indicated that the Japanese Trade Balance increased to 71 trillion Yen from a previous reading of 54 trillion Yen. It then lost further ground during the session as Standard and Poor downgraded Japan's credit rating to AA- as the nation lacks a "coherent strategy" in order to control persistent deflation and political gridlock. USDJPY moved between 82.13 and 83.21 during the day. Adding to the Greenback's recent weakness against the EURO was the release of 2 reports State side with both Core Durable Goods slumping and Unemployment Claims increasing by 47,000 to 454,000 for the week. The news helped the EURO hit a yearly high of 1.3756 against the Greenback.

Data releases

AUD: NAB Quarterly Business Confidence

NZD: No data slated for release

JPY: Unemployment Rate, Retail Sales; Monetary Policy Meeting Minutes

GBP: No data slated for release

EUR: M3 Money Supply y/y; Private Loan's y/y

USD: Advanced GDP; Revised UoM Consumer Sentiments and Inflation Expectations