Not sure which way the dollar is heading? Why not speak to your OzForex dealer about protecting your foreign exchange payments or receipts using our Currency Options solution.

Australian Dollar:  An improvement in the value of equities and overall risk sentiment has helped grant the Australian Dollar a reprieve on Wednesday and through to this morning it has consolidated these gains. A quick domestic focus yesterday saw Retail Sales for the month of July increase more than expected, and although risk aversion did not allow the Aussie to rally initially, as sentiment improved throughout the day the positive news helped a move to 0.9650. We open here this morning and with a quiet day ahead in terms of local data, markets will be watching keenly the European Central Bank and any further developments in the Euro zone.
 
New Zealand Dollar:   The New Zealand Dollar has bounced back from lows below 0.7500 and continued a recovery initially spurred by a speech from the Chairman of the US central bank. It did lull to an intra-session low near 0.7550 although some positive economic data from the US and a few steps in the right direction from Europe has helped the commodity currency rally to an opening high this morning of 0.7675. Risk sentiment will remain the main driving force for the Kiwi at least for the next 24 hours as the local economic calendar holds nothing expected for the rest of this week. In a tentative risk-on environment the Australian Dollar has managed to make some modest gains on the cross-rate trading at 1.2580 (0.7949) at time of writing.
 
Great British Pound: Sterling weakened against the Greenback yesterday at a time most other currencies were strengthening against the big dollar. A government report showed that the UK’s economic growth slowed more than analysts forecast last quarter, adding pressure on the central bank to keep interest rates low. The Pound dropped from 1.5476 to an eventual low of 1.5395 as a result of only a 0.1% increase in GDP for the second quarter of 2011. Greenback weakness did help the nation’s currency retrace some of these losses and it opens this morning at 1.5460. Moving across the globe, a recovery of risk appetite has also left the antipodean cross rates open to losses, Sterling buying 1.6000 against the Aussie and 2.0130 against the Kiwi.
 
Majors: After a week of wondering, the Greenback has finally ran into resistance against the Euro and other major trading counterparts. After touching 1.3150 against the 17-nation currency a little over 24 hours ago the US Dollar has continued to weaken in the aftermath of Ben Bernanke’s speech hinting at further quantitative easing. They are still, however, tentative gains as speculation arises the ECB will introduce policy measures to assist Europe’s economy in their monthly rate meeting tonight, measures that may devalue the Euro in the short term. The Euro hit a high of 1.3380 as further talk of recapitalizing Europe’s banks emerged although a weaker than expected retail sales figure helped it soften this morning to open at 1.3340. The Yen remains strong although has not yet broken through some fairly strong resistance against the US Dollar. It is likely to remain capped ahead of the BOJ’s monetary policy meeting due to finish on Friday, with speculation of a market intervention to weaken the Yen still circulating the markets.
 
Data releases
 
AUD: No data due for release
NZD: No data due for release
JPY: No data due for release
GBP: Official Bank Rate; MPC Rate Statement; Asset Purchase Facility
EUR: Minimum Bid Rate; ECB Press Conference
USD: Unemployment Claims