Dollar rises ahead of Yellen’s Speech in London

Key Movers

In what was largely a lacklustre session free from headline data sets the Australian dollar edged marginally higher throughout trade on Monday. Having opened at 0.7566 the AUD crawled to intraday highs at 0.7599, buoyed by a marginal uptick in oil prices. Having touched 7 month lows mid last week oil marked a 3rd consecutive daily advance and offered support across wider commodities while additional upward furtherance came in softer than anticipated U.S Durable Goods Orders. The continued string of weaker U.S macroeconomic data is serving to prop up the Aussie dollar and stave off any backward correction and attentions now turn to commentary from Fed Chair Janet Yellen and consumer confidence data for direction through Tuesday ahead of all important U.S GDP data and Inflationary indicators Thursday and Friday. Watch resistance at 0.7630 with supports at 0.7550 and 0.7520.


The New Zealand dollar maintained a relatively tight trading range throughout much of its domestic session yesterday. The Kiwi reached an overnight high of 0.7310 against the Greenback after figures showed US durable goods orders dropped 1.1 per cent in May. Looking ahead today and all eyes will be on the Trade Balance release for the month of May with expectations to show a trade surplus of $420 million, slightly down from the previous month $578 million. The NZD/USD pair is currently trading at 0.7283. We now expect any upward push will likely meet resistance around 0.7320.


Movements were once again light on for major currencies overnight. Despite initial pressure on the US Dollar after a weaker durable goods order print in the United States, the U.S. Dollar index regained previous losses to close higher 0.18% to 97.42. The EUR/USD initially climbed to intraday highs from 1.1170 to 1.1220 post American data before all pairing gains to 1.1182. Remarks by ECB President Mario Draghi suggested there is no expectation of immediate need to scale back current monetary stimulus. USD/JPY hit one month highs to 111.85 before a plethora of key note speakers overnight including Fed Chair Janet Yellen who is set to speak in London regarding global economic issues.