AUD Holds Firm as US-Iran Meeting Concludes

AUD

The Aussie Dollar opens mixed against the majors this morning, following talks between the U.S. and Iran stalling which weighed on risk sentiment and some stronger than anticipated employment data out of the US. Asian equites ended the session mixed in trade, the Nikkei +0.3%, Hang Seng -1.4% and Shenzhen -0.2%. Locally the ASX 200 climbed +0.5%, as technology and communication services sectors led gains at +5.2% and +1.6%. A quiet day locally on the economic calendar with Private Capital Expenditure q/q coming in a touch higher at +0.4% (Exp. -0.1%). Nothing major on the horizon for the Aussie until Wednesday next week with GDP q/q set to release. 

USD

AUDUSD opened slightly down at 0.7108 this morning, trading in a range of 0.7067/0.7135. This was following headlines coming from the Iranian nuclear talks in Geneva with discussions stalled as the U.S. demanded zero enrichment and a transfer of uranium out of the country with reports that Iran would not allow enriched uranium to leave the country. Wall St saw the Nasdaq trading -1.3%, the S&P 500 -0.7%, and the Dow Jones unchanged entering the latter part of the North American session. U.S. 10-year yields fell 3bps to 4.03%, while Brent Crude rose .6% to $71.20 a barrel. Overnight US Unemployment Claims rose by 4,000 to 212k from the previous week (forecasted at 217k). Early tomorrow morning will see the release of Core PPI m/m figures which are currently forecasted at +0.3%.

EUR

AUDEUR opened slightly lower at 0.6024 this morning following remarks made by ECB President Lagarde at the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs of the European Parliament. She mentioned that the ECB will observe FX movements but won’t directly intervene. She also mentioned that the Eurozone inflation is expected to stabilize at the central bank’s 2% target in the medium term. Eurozone equities closed the session in the green with the DAX and CAC coming in at +0.4% and +0.7% respectively. Today German Prelim CPI m/m will be released which is currently forecasted to increase by +0.5%, which would be a stark increase following a string of flat results in the last three months.

GBP

AUDGBP opens up at 0.5270 this morning, recovering from overnight lows of 0.5233. The FTSE also closed up +0.4%. A quiet day ahead for the UK following an empty economic calendar for the week, with just GfK Consumer Confidence expected today which won't move markets. Nothing of note until next Tuesday with the UK Annual Budget Release.

NZD

AUDNZD remains strong, opening up at 1.1883 this morning. Recently the Reserve Bank of New Zealand underlined the need to keep policy accommodative, leaving markets not fully priced for a hike until December. Nothing of note out of New Zealand today data wise.