Market Update – 20th March 2018 – Equities Sold Off, Commodities Flat & AUD/GBP Falls 0.6%

A fairly substantial equities selloff overnight with losses of as much as 1.5% in Europe and the U.S did not translate into substantial falls in commodities prices and the Aussie dollar with both mostly managing to finish the session flat. AUD/GBP however was the anomaly falling around 30-40 points as the Pound surged to nearly 18 month highs vs. the Aussie dollar on the back of forecasts that suggest the UK will do quite well out of their Brexit negotiations with no change to the status quo for at least a couple more years. AUD/GBP has been in decline since November 2016 and with higher growth forecasts this trend could certainly continue into the foreseeable future – particularly as Aussie growth falters and the housing market & retail sales remain flat.

Monetary policy minutes from the last RBA meeting are due out this morning and provide the only local economic data released today. While the report is very much backward looking in terms of it has already taken place it still does provide “in-depth insights into the economic conditions that influenced their (RBAs) decision on where to set interest rates”, as such it is closely monitored and markets can move around the announcement.

AUD EXCHANGE RATES:

AUD/USD – 0.7716

AUD/GBP – 0.5500

AUD/EUR – 0.6254

AUD/NZD – 1.0651

AUD/JPY – 81.828

USD/BTC – $8,423

OTHER MARKETS: 

All Ords (XAO) – 6,064

Gold – A$1706/oz

Silver –  A$21.15/oz

WTI – US$62.20/barrel

DATA RELEASES TODAY:

AUD – Monetary Policy Meeting Minutes at 11.30am

GBP – CPI y/y at 8.30pm

Day 2 – G20 Meetings