Market Update – 11th January 2018 – Retail Sales Due At 11.30am, May Provide Further AUD Boost

The Aussie dollar made small gains overnight despite weaker equities markets and a subdued commodities market. Iron ore, which is probably our most important export has continued to post gains through the early stages of 2018 after a tumultuous year in which the commodity traded in a very wide range between US$95 a tonne and US$53 a tonne. Right now we’re closing in on US$80 a tonne with some forecasters suggesting US$100 a tonne is not out of the realm of possibility – I tend to think that’s unlikely unless a country like India, the U.S or Japan rapidly increase their infrastructure spending as more infrastructure generally equals more steel!

Chinese economic data was mixed yesterday however U.K manufacturing production came in better than expected for the month of November, additionally the October figure was revised higher. AUD/GBP didn’t fall however rather we saw the currency pair move higher busting back above 0.5800 for the time being.

Ahead today is local retail sales numbers at 11.30am. The figures we will see are not for December but rather November’s retail sales numbers so we should get a glimpse into what may be in store for the December figure which will be released early next month. Assuming a strong number we could probably expect the AUD to track higher.

AUD EXCHANGE RATES:

AUD/USD – 0.7838

AUD/GBP – 0.5802

AUD/EUR – 0.6555

AUD/NZD – 1.0892

AUD/JPY – 87.324

COMMODITIES: 

Gold – A$1680/oz

Silver –  A$21.67/oz

WTI – US$63.31/barrel

DATA RELEASES TODAY:

CNY – CPI and PPI at 12.30pm

GBP – Manufacturing Prodn at 8.30pm