The Australian Dollar (AUD) experienced a positive movement yesterday following the announcement of a better than expected Trade Balance figure for the month of November.
The ‘Aussie’ (AUD) increased its’ value against the majors by approximately half of one percent yesterday when the Trade Balance figures indicated that Australia’s trade deficit widened to $925M when the expectation by economists’ was that it would increase to $1.6B.
The South Pacific currency held the gains against the GBP, EUR and CAD overnight, however it gave back the gains against the USD.
Australian Dollar to Pound Sterling (AUD/GBP) Exchange Rate Rallies
The AUD/GBP exchange rate has been moving favourably during the initial few days of the new year. The Australian Dollar moved favourably over the past 24 hours due to the positive Australian trade figures and weaker than expected UK data.
Overnight, the UK economy reported on both their Composite, and Services Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for the month of December. Both economic indicators fell short of the forecast, allowing the AUD/GBP exchange rate to push up by close to a full percent.
Today the Australian economy will release the AIG Performance of Service Index. Another positive result for the Australian economy is likely to continue the Australian Dollar’s rally against the Pound Sterling. Tomorrow the Bank of England (BoE) releases have it’s their first Interest Rate Decision for the year. No surprises are expected, with the forecast being that the official cash rate will remain on hold at 0.5%. Once again the tone taken in the speech by Markby Mark Carney, Head of the BoE, is likely to determine the next movement of the AUD/GBP exchange rate.
Australian Dollar to US Dollar (AUD/USD) Exchange Rate Remains Volatile
The AUD/USD exchange rate is currently trading below the 0.81 mark after experiencing a volatile 24 hours of trading.
Although the ‘Aussie’ (AUD) pushed up by half of one percent yesterday against the ‘Greenback’ (USD), it failed to hold onto the gains overnight despite the US economy releasing weaker than expected economic data.
The US ISM Non-Manufacturing Composite figure released last night was a reading of 56.2 when the forecast was 58. This shows that the AUD is going to need significantly more than a singular positive economic announcement to break the current trend of a falling AUD/USD exchange rate.
On Monday, the AUD/USD exchange rate hit a 5 and a half year low of 0.8035. Further US data in the form of US Trade Balance and Employment Change figures are scheduled for release tonight. The Federal Open Market Committee Reserve will also release the Minutes from their December Meeting. With an abundance of US data to be released tonight, we may see the AUD/USD exchange rate trend downward towards a new 5 and a half year low.