Market Watch AU – 24th January 2024
As expected, the antipodean currencies were dominated by China market activity yesterday, with the AUDUSD climbing over 0.66-cents on the China stock rescue plan discussion. The China central authorities are contemplating a $278bn rescue package directed at the nation’s stagnating stock market. During Asia session, option related selling interest in the Aussie was cleared out in the high 0.65’s, but a firmer US-dollar overnight has put a cap on gains as US treasury yields picked up. Also as expected, the BoJ delivered a ‘no change’ to their cash rate yesterday, remaining at -0.1%, but details in their communications suggested they are proving more comfortable with inflation on track and a positive cash rate scenario, by reinforcing policy normalization as soon as April. The US-dollar was up against the JPY in afternoon trade. Elsewhere, the market is gearing up for the central bank meetings of BoC and ECB later in the week, where both are expected to remain on hold for this month. For AUDUSD traders today, we see support remaining at 0.6500/25 on any further deterioration, with rallies likely to be capped through 0.6600/15 again.
Wall Street indices were mixed today with the S&P500 rising marginally as investors digested first look quarterly results and await additional releases later in the week. The DJI lost -0.3% over the session, while the S&P500 gained +0.1%, and the Nasdaq was up +0.1% as well. Australian shares are set to open steady today.
Gold prices regained previous day losses, as investors re-assess the timeline for policy cues out of the Fed later this year and further data releases later this week.
Copper prices took back their previous session losses on discussions that China will release fresh stimulus to boost their economy. Iron ore futures gained on news that the China authorities were proposing further support to their flagging economy.
Brent Crude prices eased back as traders weighed up production outages in the US due to the weather and the ongoing Middle East and European conflicts, against the increasing crude supply out of Libya and Norway.
| AUDUSD
Open today 0.6580 Yesterday’s Range 0.6552 / 0.6612 |
NZDUSD
Open today 0.6102 Yesterday’s Range 0.6622 / 0.6117 |
AUDNZD
Yesterday’s Range 1.0773 / 1.0833 |
| AUDEUR
Yesterday’s Range 0.6035 / 0.6071 |
AUDCNH
Yesterday’s Range 4.7018 / 4.7403 |
AUDGBP
Yesterday’s Range 0.5168 / 0.5192 |
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