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FX Market Commentary - 10th March 2010Sterling continued a downward trajectory overnight as the UK Goods Trade balance widened in the month of January to record a GBP 8b deficit against a previous deficit of GBP 7b. Yesterday RICS House Price Balance showed the health of the UK’s housing market remains in question with the index sliding to 17 percent in February from a previous 32 percent. Experts had predicted the index would rise to 35 percent. The greenback remained strong against major counterparts with the the US dollar index which measures the dollar's value relative to six major foreign currencies is currently at 80.55 up 0.015 percent. Locally the Aussie dollar became the beneficiary of moderate market optimism with the local unit rising to near seven week highs. Yesterday’s upbeat economic data has also kept the Aussie dollar well supported with ANZ’s job advertisements growing 19.1 percent to 159,778 in February, against a previous 8.0 percent decline. This has of course kicked off the first round of interest rate conjecture from when the RBA reconvenes in April – expect the speculation to step up ahead of tomorrow’s employment data which is expected to show 15,000 newly created jobs in February, from a previous surge of 57,200. National Australian Bank also printed some strong business confidence numbers with the index recording a level of 19, representing 4 month highs. At the time of writing the Aussie dollar is buying 91.5 US cents - Local economic news this morning includes the Westpac consumer confidence survey for the month of March. |
