Welcome to our daily market update where we help keep you informed on the latest happenings in the world of FX and show you what this means for the Mighty Aussie Dollar.
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Key Data Being Released Today
Australia – Private Capital Expenditure (2.5% expected)
South Korea – Rate Decision (1.25% expected)
Taiwan – Unemployment rate (3.7% expected)
Taiwan – GDP (4.89% YoY expected)
Hong Kong – Trade Balance (-7.4b expected)
Macro Report
Geopolitical tensions continued to dominate overnight, and escalation fears remain high. Ukraine, which declared the State of Emergency starting February 24 for 30 days, reported it had suffered from cyberattacks, with websites to several banks and government departments becoming inaccessible. Russia begun evacuating its embassy in Kyiv, while a senior US defence official notes Russia has moved nearly 100% of forces into attack position and warns an offensive could begin within 48 hours.
Major currencies were mixed against the US dollar in European and US trade. The Aussie dollar rose from lows near US72.25 cents to highs near US72.83 cents and was near US72.30 cents in afternoon US trade. The recent strength being attributed to strong commodity prices, outweighing the overall markets gloomy sentiment. The Euro fell from highs near US$1.1355 to lows near US$1.1300 and was near US$1.1305 in afternoon US trade.
Equity markets, both in Europe and the US, traded lower overnight. At the close of US trade, the Dow Jones index was down by 465 points or 1.4%, after earlier being up 236 points. The S&P 500 index lost 1.8% with the Nasdaq index dropping 344 points or 2.6%. The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell by 0.3% after being up 1% earlier in the session.
Ahead, In Australia, Private New Capital Expenditure is due with an expected 2.6% quarter on quarter increase. However, it’s worth nothing that wages and inflation seem to be the key themes in play at the moment.
In Europe and the UK, we may get some clues as to how both those regions plan to unwind of their respective QE programs, with members of both central banks due to give talks on the topic.
In the US, we have Jobless claims, where expectations are to tick down to 235k form 248k. The market will also be monitoring US Fed member who are due to speak today, including Waller and Bostic.
AUD/USD Daily Chart
DXY (USD INDEX) Daily
Major Global Markets
| Currencies | Level | Change (%) |
| AUD/USD | 0.7231 | 0.17 |
| AUD/JPY | 83.146 | 0.09 |
| AUD/CNH | 4.5648 | -0.01 |
| DXY | 96.2210 | 0.18 |
| Rates | Yield (%) | Change (%) |
| US 10 Year | 1.984 | 0.05 |
| Aus 10 year | 2.3 | 0.02 |
| Equities | Level | Change (%) |
| S&P 500 | 4225 | -1.85 |
| NASDAQ | 13509 | -2.60 |
| ASX 200 | 7206 | 0.62 |
| Commodities | Level | Change (%) |
| Iron Ore | 122.23 | -1.40 |
| Gold | 1909.52 | 0.58 |
| Brent Crude oil | 96.99 | 0.14 |