Markets open mixed on an uneventful day
Today’s Economic Data:
- New Zealand Westpac consumer sentiment 106.0 vs. 113.0
- New Zealand Visitor arrivals m/m 0.2% vs. -2.7% previously
- UK Rightmove HPI m/m 0.9% vs. -0.8%
- New Zealand Credit Card spending y/y 10.5% vs. 9.8% previously
- German PPI m/m -0.5% vs. -0.3%
- Canada wholesale sales m/m 0.0%% vs. 0.3%
Later:
- US existing home sales
- Fed Dennis Lockhart speech
- BoC Governor Poloz speech
The currency markets opened on a choppy note on a day where there were no major economic releases. The Asian trading session saw a bit of follow through from Friday with the Euro attempting to gain ground against the US Dollar. Asian equity markets were mixed with the Nikkei and the Hang Seng closing lower for the day with losses of -1.96% and -0.75% respectively. The Aussie was weaker in today’s open and was seen declining from the start. AUDUSD was currently testing the support near 0.7153 while the Kiwi fell to session lows of 0.6345.
The Japanese Yen was choppy in today’s trading after initially dipping to the session lows near the daily pivot point of 119.815. The Yen grew weak as the US Dollar gained momentum into the European trading session. USDJPY was seen trading near the day’s highs of 120.575 at the time of writing.
The European markets were trading in the Green with the German DAX up 0.26% while the FTSE was up 0.81% for the day. The Euro attempted to rally against the Greenback but failed to hold on to the gains as the currency fell from the session highs of 1.132 to post a session low near 1.1242. Data from Europe saw the German producer price index decline -0.5%, more than expected. Over the weekend, the elections held in Greece saw the incumbent Alexis Tsipras and his Syriza party being re-elected albeit coming to power via coalition with other parties.
The British Pound was trading flat for the day at 1.5534 after attempting to test the session highs near 1.55675, the daily pivot.
Gold futures were also weaker during the day, losing -0.5% after the precious metal failed to hold on to the gains after testing the highs of 1140.70 on Friday. Gold was trading at 1133 at the time of writing.
Crude Oil futures managed to recover some of the losses from last week as Oil opened today at 45.22 and posted gains of near 2.9% at the time of writing, trading near $46.20.
Data from Canada during the US trading session saw the wholesale sales staying flat. The Canadian dollar which was early stronger gave back its gains as USDCAD was trading near flat for the day. The remainder of the evening will see the US existing home sales data followed by speeches from Fed’s Dennis Lockhart and the Bank of Canada Governor, Poloz.
