Australian Dollar Slides On Soft Capex Data
28 May 2015 - 2:28PM
RTTF2
The Australian dollar weakened against the other major
currencies in the Asian session on Thursday on disappointing
domestic capex data for the first quarter of 2015, which increased
the odds of a rate cut.
Data from Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that private
capital expenditure in Australia was down a seasonally adjusted 4.4
percent on quarter in the first quarter of 2015, coming in at
A$35.895 billion. That missed expectations for a decline of 2.2
percent, which would have been unchanged from the previous three
months.
On a yearly basis, private capital expenditure was down 5.3
percent.
The markets also focused on Greek debt negotiations. Greek Prime
Minister Alexis Tspiras in a statement said his country was close
to an agreement with international creditors. He also added that
the agreement would be beneficial to Greece with no impingement on
pensions, salaries, banks or deposits in the proposed deal.
Meanwhile, Australia's stock market has pared initial gains and
slipped into negative territory, led by weakness in mining
stocks.
The Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX200 Index is currently down
20.60 points or 0.36 percent to 5,704. The broader All Ordinaries
Index is down 17.50 points or 0.31 percent at 5,706.
Wednesday, the Australian dollar was trading lower against its
most major rivals. The Australian dollar fell 0.18 percent against
the U.S. dollar, 0.28 percent against the euro, 0.53 percent
against the NZ dollar and 0.01 percent against the Canadian
dollar.
In the Asian trading today, the Australian dollar fell to more
than a 2-week low of 0.9567 against the Canadian dollar and a 2-day
low of 95.06 against the yen, from an early 8-day high of 0.9659
and a 9-day high of 95.99, respectively. If the aussie extends its
downtrend, it is likely to find support around 0.94 against the
loonie and 93.50 against the yen.
Against the U.S. dollar and the euro, the aussie dropped to more
than a 5-week low of 0.7685 and a 6-day low of 1.4195 from
yesterday's closing quotes of 0.7719 and 1.4106, respectively. The
aussie may test support near 0.75 against the greenback and 1.44
against the euro.
Pulling away from an early high of 1.0684 against the NZ dollar,
the aussie edged down to 1.0621. On the downside, 1.03 is seen as
the next support level for the aussie.
Looking ahead, Swiss trade balance and German import price index
- both for April, are due to be released at 2:00 am ET.
At 2:20 am ET, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President
John Williams is expected to speak about banking supervision at the
Monetary Authority of Singapore Banking Supervision and Regulation
Joint Conference in Singapore.
Swiss industrial production for the first quarter, the second
estimate of first quarter U.K. GDP, U.K. index of services for
March and Eurozone business climate index for May are also set to
be published in the European session.
In the New York session, Canada industrial product and raw
material price indices for April, U.S. weekly jobless claims for
the week ended Mar 23 and U.S. pending home sales data for April
are slated for release.
At 7:00 am ET, ECB board member Yves Mersch is expected to speak
at the Bulgarian Authorities 2015 IMF/World Bank Constituency
Meetings in Sofia, Bulgaria.
At 2:45 pm ET, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President
Narayana Kocherlakota will deliver a speech on monetary policy
before a Community Leader Lunch hosted by the Helena Branch of the
Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis in Helena, Montana.
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