APAC Morning Update - 16/03/21

The AUDUSD opens at 0.7750 and the NZDUSD opens at 0.7196

The market remains pretty poised, with the Fed coming out early Thursday being the highlight of the week. Remember that the narrative of a relatively less dovish Fed is hinging on this meeting, and any push back or confirmation should set the tone for the next move.

In some slightly less positive news, and honestly something that isn’t yet getting too much attention, is the results of AstraZeneca vaccine. Germany has paused its rollout as they review the data, and Italy and France are following suit. The EU can never really be accused of speedy action, but given only 7% of their population have had one dose, this does not compare well to the UK which has over 5 times the figure at 36%. This also does not bode well for the world, as that specific vaccine has deals for 3 Billion doses in place. For now though the market seems to be shrugging it off. It is hard to know if the UK would have been caught up in the malaise of the EU’s vaccine rollout had they not left the EU, but you get a feeling some of the Brexiteers will be patting themselves on the back.

Global equity markets are mixed: Dow +0.4%, S&P 500 +0.5%, FTSE -0.2%, DAX -0.3%, CAC -0.2%, Nikkei +0.2%, Shanghai -1.0%.

Gold prices are up 0.3%, currently trading at $1,729 an ounce. WTI Crude Oil prices are off 1.0% trading at $65.3 a barrel.

NZDUSD 0.7196 0.2%
NZDEUR 0.6032 0.5%
NZDGBP 0.5179 0.4%
NZDJPY 78.53 0.3%
NZDAUD 0.9284 0.4%
NZDCAD 0.8975 0.2%
GBPNZD 1.9307 -0.5%

AUDUSD 0.7750 0.0%
AUDEUR 0.6497 0.1%
AUDGBP 0.5578 0.1%
AUDJPY 84.56 0.0%
AUDNZD 1.0768 -0.2%
GBPAUD 1.7928 -0.1%