- New Zealand December Merchandise Trade Balance +486M (vs. Expected of -105M)
- Australia November Conference Board Leading Indicator -0.2% (October was +0.2%)
- Australia December Business Confidence +3 (vs. -9.2 prior), the biggest rebound in 10+ years
- Australia December Business Conditions -4 (vs. -6 prior)
As you can see, it was a quiet day on the data-release front, but currencies had some swings nevertheless.
The Yen was the most active again, from early-Asia highs of 90.87 it traded down to test stops through 90.50; 90.40 registered as the low and after chopping between 40 and 60 it traded back through the earlier highs to 91.02. There was little in the way of news, data or comments to drive the moves, but Asian shares and the Nikkei were all solid performers on the day.
EUR/USD had another quiet session, but did find bids under 1.3450. As I write its up around 1.3460 … not really a lot to say about that range. EUR/AUD fell a little on the session but attracted bids below 1.2870.
The AUD/USD was active, beginning its move higher from 1.0410/15 after the Leading Indicator report and accelerating after the much better than expected Business Confidence report. It traded into resistance at 1.0450 (52 the high) before drifting back to mid-range levels around 1.0430/40. NZD/USD put in a solid performance on the day after a Trade Surplus was reported instead of a deficit (see bullets, above). A point of concern in the trade numbers was the much lower than expected figure for imports, which may be indicative of a softening in demand (although the figures is volatile and can be easily impacted by one-offs; in this case it seems likely due to the drop in imports of crude oil). There is now little doubt in the market that the RBNZ is on hold at Thursday’s scheduled meeting.
