The Australian Dollar to US Dollar (AUD/USD) Exchange Rate has dropped again during the European session of Friday night making it to a low of 80.71 US Cents. The lowest the currency pairing has been since May 2010.
Friday night provided the release of US ISM Manufacturing PMI and Construction Spending, both of which came in lower than the forecast expectation and lower than the previous month. However the Greenback continued to strengthen during the final trading session for the week.
Bank of New Zealand strategist Kymberly Martin said ‘The key theme in the New Year has been US dollar strength and that has been represented in declines in most other currencies. So the Australian dollar seems to be simply suffering from that rather than any specific data.’
Most significant data out for the US this week commences on with the release of Trade balance which is forecast with a reduction on the previous figure from -43.4 Billion down to -42.3 Billion. Wednesday evening will also provide the first Federal Open Market Committee Meeting for the year providing insight into the most recent meeting of the Fed and indication on their stance for the future Rate Changes for the year ahead.
The AUDUSD Exchange Rate is currently trading at 80.76 US Cents at 8:00 Am AEST Today.
The Australian Dollar to UK Pound Sterling (AUD/GBP) Exchange Rate at 0.53
The Australian Dollar to UK Pound Sterling (AUD/GBP) Exchange Rate has remained relatively stable during last week’s trading, making some gains from the 4 year low position for the most part of December. With a lack of significant data out of either country, and low market liquidity, movements have been marginal out of the currency pairing.
The AUD/GBP Exchange Rate has made it just above the 0.53 range this morning.
Today provides a quiet session of trading with only AIG Manufacturing Index released locally today. The previous months figure was at 50.1 just above the contraction line. If today’s result was to fall below the expansion contraction indicator line of 50.0 we could see further sell-off in the Australian Dollar to GBP Exchange Rate.
Offshore tonight the UK will release Construction PMI, for which the forecast result is expected to come in line with the previous result at 59.2 from 59.4.
Investors will look to Thursday’s offshore session for significant movement on the AUD/GBP Exchange Rate with the first Official Bank Rate decision out of the Bank of England (BoE), the rate is expected to remain at 0.5% however analysts will keenly monitor the accompanying Rate Statement from Governor Mark Carney for indications of the BoE’s intentions for monetary policy for 2015.