APAC Morning Update - 21/01/21

The AUDUSD opens at 0.7742 and the NZDUSD at 0.7162 this morning

 

So the U.S has a new president as Joe Biden has been sworn in today, taking over from the Pardon happy Donald Trump, who didn’t go quietly.


Risk currencies have embraced this change, and have pushed higher today, and expectations will be high for Biden to improve a fragile economy, which is struggling to go anywhere with COVID still having a huge impact.


The new administration is expected to push an agenda of stronger stimulus of nearly 2 trillion in a bid to put the recovery on a better path.

 
Australia:
Consumer confidence had a slight pull-back but confidence is still high that a strong recovery will take place.

 
Europe and Britain:
Europe is struggling to contain COVID and there are worries the new strain will lead to tighter lockdowns and more economic pain, which will lead the Euro lower overnight.

We are also seeing the difficulties of maintaining post Brexit trade mounting, and the separation pain might be a challenge in the near term. 

 
Volatility remains:
We saw a nice dip lower over the last week, and exporters need to buy those dips, while importers will now be looking to take advantage of this move higher, if they still need cover.

 
Global equity markets are higher overnight: Dow +0.8%, S&P 500 +1.5%, FTSE +0.4%, DAX 0.8%, CAC +0.5%, Nikkei -0.4%, Shanghai +0.5%.

Gold prices are up 1.5%, currently trading at $1,868 an ounce. WTI Crude Oil prices are up 0.6% trading at $53.28 a barrel. 

NZDUSD 0.7162 0.7%
NZDEUR 0.5918 0.9%
NZDGBP 0.5251 0.7%
NZDJPY 74.20 0.5%
NZDAUD 0.9253 0.1%
NZDCAD 0.9062 0.1%
GBPNZD 1.9044 -0.7%

AUDUSD 0.7742 0.7%
AUDEUR 0.6397 0.8%
AUDGBP 0.5675 0.5%
AUDJPY 80.17 0.3%
AUDNZD 1.0807 -0.1%
GBPAUD 1.7621 -0.5%