AUD/USD
The Australian Dollar has failed to again gain any traction and move higher after weaker than expected Chinese data on Monday was released and the AUD fell around 0.43% to hit a low of 0.7319 before bouncing back to close out the day at 0.7338.
Rising COVID-19 cases in NSW, Victoria and now ACT has seen the appetite for the AUD soften with concerns for more extended lockdowns keeping downward pressure on the local currency.
Focus will now turn to the RBA meeting minutes released today at 11:30am with comments being heavily scrutinised for clues on the short term future direction of interest rates, and market movements usually following.
NZD/AUD
The New Zealand dollar has reached 0.95c against the Australian Dollar for the first time since December 2020, and before that April 2020, seeing a 2.5% move in favour of the Kiwi in the last month.
This week sees many economic announcements from NZ with the Global Dairy Trades results released, followed by the Producer Price Index which measures the rate of inflation experienced by producers, then on Thursday is the RBNZ and their decision on interest rates.
Many economists are tipping that NZ will increase its Offical Cash Rate which could see some strength in the NZD this week if the figures and comments support the move.
EUR/USD
The EUR has again failed to break back above $1.18 against the USD in recent days with the absence of much high tier data. This week sees a raft of announcements however with Employment Numbers and GDP results coming out of the Eurozone, and US retails sales before the weeks ends with a Speech from the Federal Reserve which again will be heavily monitored for any talk of tapering stimulus packages and any short term future moves in the interest rates in the US.
Tensions in the middle east are creating more uncertainty in markets currently which is also keeping rate movements subdued and not allowing much upward momentum for this pair at the moment.
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