Waning Optimism Around US-China Trade Talks Sees AUD and NZD Underperform

Xe Corporate APAC

22. September 2019 — 2 min read

The AUDUSD opens at 0.6772 (mid-rate) and the NZDUSD opens at 0.6259 (mid-rate) this morning.

Both the AUD and NZD, along with other commodity linked currencies underperformed as optimism surrounding US-China trade talks faded.

The NZD continued to encounter heavy selling pressure on Friday with the dollar falling to a new multi-year low against the USD.

News that the Chinese trade delegation who were in Washington for deputy-level trade talks, had cancelled a scheduled visit to US farm states, and were returning to China early led to the increase in risk aversion. In response to the news President Donald Trump announced that he is not interested in a "partial or interim deal” and told reporters he doesn't think he needs to reach a trade deal with China before the 2020 elections.

The EUR moved higher on Friday night after preliminary data from the European Commission showed eurozone consumer confidence improved in September to its highest level in four months. The flash consumer confidence index which had fallen to -7.1 in August rose to -6.5 in September, its highest level since May of this year.

Central bank speak along with Thursday evenings US GDP data release are likely to be the key drivers over the course of this week.

The key driver for the NZD this week will be the tone of Wednesday’s monetary policy statement. Given that the RBNZ surprised the market with a 50bp cut at their last meeting, and that this cut will take time to filter through the economy it is unlikely we will see another adjustment to the rate at Wednesday’s meeting.

Global equity markets closed mixed on Friday - Dow -0.59%, S&P 500 -0.48%, FTSE -0.16%, DAX +0.08%, CAC +0.56%, Nikkei +0.16%, Shanghai +0.25%.

Gold prices edged up 0.7% on Friday closing out the week at $1,516 an ounce. WTI Crude Oil prices were down 0.8% on Friday, closing out the week at $57.84 a barrel.

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Mid-Market Rates

AUDUSD0.6772-0.4%NZDUSD0.6259-0.7%AUDEUR0.6142-0.2%NZDEUR0.5681-0.5%AUDGBP0.54290.1%NZDGBP0.5019-0.2%AUDJPY72.95-0.6%NZDJPY67.45-0.9%AUDNZD1.08150.3%NZDAUD0.9241-0.3%GBPAUD1.8420-0.1%NZDCAD0.8298-0.7% GBPNZD1.99240.2%

Currency Market Influences APAC