Lawrence Villamar

US chain store sales rose by 3.2pct in the latest week compared with a year ago according to the Johnson Redbook Retail Sales index.

Australia’s Central Bank cut the official cash rate yesterday from 4.5 to 4.25 percent for a second straight month. The cut marked the first consecutive drop since February 2009 with rates likely to normalise even further in early 2012.

The Aussie got up towards resistance at 1.0300/50 overnight before being sold lower and we expect the range to hold in the near term.

It was a very quiet Asian session yesterday as investors awaited a beginning of the week catalyst to spur markets in one direction or the other.

The Aussie pushed up to resistance at 1.0335 before reversing swiftly lower on Friday. We’ve seen a pop higher in early Monday trade and this would usually cause us to maintain a bullish bias. However, don’t forget we have the RBA decision tomorrow and this might cause some weakness with most analysts expecting another cut.

The Australian Dollar successfully logged its first weekly advance since October after higher yielding assets responded positively to joint efforts by monetary authorities to tackle Europe’s debt crisis.

The Aussie pulled back to 1.0150 before popping higher and this continues our bullish view of the market. A break of 1.0335 now looks like a possibility.

The Australian Dollar started Asian trade notably higher yesterday after a boost in investor sentiment came from some much needed positive news from the Eurozone.

The flood of money from central banks saw the Aussie surge overnight pushing up to major resistance at 1.0300/50. We’d expect a short term pullback before looking to take new longs.

Three substantial economic developments announced in quick succession Wednesday morning, including efforts from several central banks to shore up the global financial system, prompted global stock markets to soar and sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average up by more than 400 points.

In what was a momentum session of movements, the Australian Dollar opens a staggering two and a half cents higher against its US Counterpart this morning at a rate of 1.0256.

We haven’t seen a lot of action on silver over the last 24 hours with the pair still trapped between 31.00 and 33.00. The market is likely to play the range in the near term.

The Australian Dollar rose for the second consecutive overnight session last night, trading north through parity on some encouraging news out of Europe and stronger than expected retail sales data in the US.

U.S. stocks trimmed early gains Tuesday as investors weighed worries about Europe's debt crisis with an unexpected increase in consumer confidence.

US consumer confidence jumped from 49.9 to 56.0 in October - marking the highest level since July and underpinning the recent rise in consumer spending.

In what was another bumpy ride for the Australian Dollar yesterday as the Nation’s currency came under some selling pressure early on, with Australia’s Government saying it will reduce spending by A$6.8 Billion, cutting the Surplus forecast for the Fiscal year starting July 1 2012 to A$1.5 billion.

The Aussie was pushed up towards parity on the back of yesterday’s technical reaction higher and the million-dollar question is whether this signals a turn in sentiment for this market. For now, the focus will remain on the downside, with initial targets back to 0.9665.

U.S. stocks rose as euro-zone leaders negotiated a new pact to stem Europe's sovereign-debt crisis and a strong start to the holiday shopping season helped boost the retail sector.

US new home sales rose by 1.3pct in October - marking the fastest pace of growth in five months. The supply of new homes on the market eased modestly from 6.4 to 6.3 months supply. The Dallas Fed Manufacturing Index rose from 2.3 to 3.2 in November.

The Australian Dollar opens noticeably higher this morning against its US Counterpart at a rate of 0.9876 with the local share market snapping six consecutive days of losses.

The Aussie has popped higher in early Monday trading and the sellers will be looking to establish positions as we enter the new week. The dynamic resistance at the 150-hour EMA looks to be the first major level this week although more cautious traders will be looking for a reversal signal before taking new shorts.

Lingering concerns after last week’s worse-than-expected bond auction in Germany strengthened the greenback across the board as traders looked for safe havens.

The short side remains the dominate strategy in the near term with the 0.9800 level providing resistance overnight. Tonight could be a quiet session, but a move up towards 0.9800 will be seen as a selling opportunity.

The euro fell to a new six-week low against the dollar Thursday after French, German and Italian leaders agreed not to widen the role of the European Central Bank to support weaker euro-zone state

The German IFO survey edged higher in November, with all three indices recording gains. The headline business climate index rose from 106.4 to 106.6, against expectation of 105.2. The second estimate of UK September GDP growth was unchanged at 0.5pct.

After losing approximately 6.5% in value over the past fortnight the Australian dollar attempted to push higher yesterday, rallying from morning lows of 0.9680 to 0.9740 by late afternoon.

The AUDUSD continued the slide lower overnight with 0.9560 support now firmly exposed after an overnight warning from ratings agency Fitch that France risked losing its Triple A credit rating.

U.S. stocks tumbled Wednesday as surprisingly poor demand at a German government-bond auction and weak Chinese data weighed on investor sentiment.

The Australian Dollar broke through critical support levels yesterday as another banking saga in Europe hit headlines and a shock contraction of the Chinese manufacturing sector was confirmed.