Market Update – 13th June 2018 – AUD Little Changed Over The Month, Equities Lower

Queens Birthday Monday and a Pies win in the AFL, makes me a very happy FX Dealer. Also the fact I had an extra long weekend certainly helps add some cheer.

No morning reports from me last week, so apologies about that, but the truth is the Aussie dollar has done bugger all over the past month or so. Earlier this month we hit a high of 0.7677 vs. the Greenback while the recent low was 0.7465 in early May. So between that high and low you’re talking about 300 points or a roughly 4% range, minuscule considering AUD/USD has been known in the past to move as much as one or even two percent in a day. AUD/USD has been trending higher during this period but the more long range trend going back to Feb suggests we are still in a cyclical downtrend.

On the markets front, U.S and European equities moved generally lower with the exception being the S&P500 up 0.17% and the NASDAQ which bucked the trend and was up 0.57% at the close. Commodities markets generally moved lower, with Iron ore and Uranium prices dropping the most. Uranium is becoming an important metal to watch with those who have an interest in commodities. Uranium is an obvious source of clean base load power and looks set for a revival thanks to the electric vehicle revolution. Additionally the demand/supply setup looks terrific for a sustained bull run when one starts.

Ahead tonight is the FOMC Statement and Federal Reserve interest rate decision – expectations are that a well choreographed 25 basis point increase to 2.00% is on the cards – as such we’re probably not likely to see too much volatility on the part of the rate increase, but more so on the attached rhetoric and commentary on further rate increase – watch this space.

AUD EXCHANGE RATES:

AUD/USD – 0.7569

AUD/GBP – 0.5661

AUD/EUR – 0.6443

AUD/NZD – 1.0810

AUD/JPY – 82.606

USD/BTC – $6,499

OTHER MARKETS: 

All Ords (XAO) – 6,042

Gold – A$1711/oz

Silver –  A$22.26/oz

WTI – US$65.76/barrel

DATA RELEASES TODAY:

AUD – RBA Gov Lowe Speaks at 12.00pm

USD – Fed Funds Rate & FOMC Statement at 4.00am