APAC Morning Update - 03/02/2021

The AUDUSD opens at 0.7590 and the NZDUSD at 0.7153

Yesterday all the excitement was about the RBA, and that is not a statement you hear often. They increased their QE Bond buying by 100 Billion, and said they do not expect the conditions to be in place for a hike until 2024. This isn’t the hardest line ever, as conditions can be better than expected therefore hike earlier, but still it’s a pretty dovish statement. This helped see the AUD at new 2021 lows against the USD. 

What was also out yesterday that perhaps didn’t get the attention it deserved, was the US Treasury coming out saying they are expecting to issue about a Trillion less in bonds than previously forecast. This means the Fed is buying about a Trillion less, or in other words, there is less USD floating around than thought. This should help add some strength to the USD. The market is probably more focused on the less esoteric stimulus package that Biden is
talking up, and which has admittedly helped buoy Stock prices. 

NZ specifically has its Employment data out at 10:45 NZST today. Generally the forecasts are pretty on the money, and hence may not move things so much, but even if it came in on expectations at 5.5%, that would be the highest since 2016.

 
Global equity markets are mixed: Dow +1.9%, S&P 500 +1.7%, FTSE +0.8%, DAX +1.6%, CAC +1.2%, Nikkei +1.0%, Shanghai +0.8%.

Gold prices are off 1.3%, currently trading at $1,835 an ounce. WTI Crude Oil prices are up 2.2% trading at $52.2 a barrel. 


AUDUSD 0.7590 -0.7%
AUDEUR 0.6312 -0.2%
AUDGBP 0.5558 -0.4%
AUDJPY 79.73 -0.5%
AUDNZD 1.0607 -0.5%
GBPAUD 1.7993 0.5%

NZDUSD 0.7153 -0.1%
NZDEUR 0.5949 0.2%
NZDGBP 0.5239 0.0%
NZDJPY 75.16 0.0%
NZDAUD 0.9427 0.5%
NZDCAD 0.9166 -0.4%
GBPNZD 1.9085 0.0%