Iron ore prices rallied again overnight, pushing past US$55 a tonne and providing a little wriggle room for Liberal government forecasts from earlier in the year. At US$55 a tonne, iron ore prices are now at the highest levels in nearly two months and should therefore support the miners and more so the Aussie dollar today. AUD/USD has broken above 0.7500, while AUD/GBP is looking likely to have a crack at 0.5700, a level which we haven’t seen since September 2014.
We have a raft of local Aussie data out today which kicks off at 11.30am with trade balance and retail sales figures followed by the all important cash rate decision at 2.30pm. Expectations are that we’ll see retail sales continue on trend around 0.2-0.3%, while the trade balance figure is expected to widen to around -1.7B. The RBA meeting at 2.30pm is likely to be a non-event particularly given the status of the weekends election and recent Brexit vote, but having said that Glenn Stevens rate statement should give us an idea of the RBAs current views on the economy and we could therefore see a bit of movement on Aussie as a result.
DATA RELEASES TODAY:
AUD – Retail Sales & Trade Balance at 11.30am
AUD – Cash Rate at 2.30pm
GBP – Services PMI at 6.30pm
GBP – BOE Gov Carney Speaks at 8.00pm
AUD EXCHANGE RATES:
AUD/USD – 0.7533
AUD/GBP – 0.5672
AUD/EUR – 0.6758
AUD/NZD – 1.0430
AUD/JPY – 77.249
***Above rates are indiciative wholesale rates and intended as a quide only***
Sign up for a Compass account today and access some of the most competitive rates in the business and arguably the best service.
{{cta(‘b4d1fdf3-9b81-4df4-87c2-23257194f470’)}}
Patrick Downes
Senior Corporate FX Dealer
Compass Markets
Contact Patrick for a quote on 0431 278 632
