APAC Morning Update - 11/03/21

The NZDUSD opens at 0.7186 and the AUDUSD opens at 0.7733

Well things were looking really good for New Zealand yesterday, before reality set in and things reverted back to even. Americas cup aside, the currencies followed much the same pattern, also ending the day in a draw. The whole “risk on” theme is a little skewed these days, as usually really strong US data would flow into a risk on move and benefit commodity currencies, lately it has been specifically benefiting the USD due to its - as yet - unimpeded rise in yields.

Reason all this is relevant, is news on the vaccine and coronavirus front is actually really positive. Global new cases were 300k, down from a peak of 840k a few months ago. How many doses have the US administered? Just shy of 100 million. When you are vaccinated it looks like you can still pass it on, but the rate at which you do drops drastically. This will also help stop the spread. I don’t think the market is quite aware of just how positive things are looking, but the subtlety is in how risk will respond. Remember a solid recovery that is better than expected eventually means less stimulus than expected, and it will be the weighing of that that will drive currency direction.

Global equity markets are generally up: Dow +1.6%, S&P 500 +0.9%, FTSE -0.1%, DAX +0.7%, CAC +1.1%, Nikkei +0.0%, Shanghai -0.0%.

Gold prices are up 0.6%, currently trading at $1,724 an ounce. WTI Crude Oil prices are also up 0.6% trading at $64.5 a barrel


AUDUSD 0.7733 0.1%
AUDEUR 0.6488 0.0%
AUDGBP 0.5552 -0.1%
AUDJPY 83.85 0.1%
AUDNZD 1.0757 0.0%
GBPAUD 1.8006 0.0%

AUDUSD 0.7733 0.1%
AUDEUR 0.6488 0.0%
AUDGBP 0.5552 -0.1%
AUDJPY 83.85 0.1%
AUDNZD 1.0757 0.0%
GBPAUD 1.8006 0.0%