The Australian dollar is slightly higher against its US counterpart which, along with equities and interest rates, has remained little changed since Friday.
At 0635 AEST on Monday, the Australian dollar was worth 79.51 US cents, up from 79.46 US cents on Friday.
Westpac’s Imre Speizer says the US dollar, interest rates, and equities were little changed on Friday night, amid a series of Federal Reservse speeches.
“The US dollar index closed Friday little changed. (The) EUR made a round trip from 1.1950 to 1.2004 and back for little net change, but the German election result is expected to weigh when it opens this morning,” he said in a Monday morning note.
“(The British pound) GBP was the worst performer, following a speech by (British) PM May, and Moody’s downgrade to Aa2, falling from 1.3596 to 1.3451.
“(The) AUD rose from 0.7940 to 0.7986. NZD rose from 0.7280 to 0.7344. AUD/NZD slipped from 1.0897 to 1.0842, iron ore shedding 3.8 per cent to a two-month low.”
He said Federal Reserve speakers included Dallas president Robert Kaplan (open minded about another rate hike in 2017), Kansas City president Esther George (need to keep rate hike momentum), and San Francisco president John Williams (“2.5 per cent is about the new normal” for the Fed rate).
Speizer expects the local currency to be “neutral in a 0.7900-0.8000 range, but possibly weighed down today by any negative EUR reaction to the German election”.
The Aussie dollar is also higher against the yen and the euro.
AAP
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