AUD and NZD Rally Amidst Renewed US-China Trade Optimism

Xe Corporate APAC

18 de junho de 2019 3 min read

The AUDUSD opens at 0.6876 and the NZDUSD opens at 0.6526 - both open higher this morning.

The US and China said their Presidents will meet next week to reignite trade negotiations, sparking a rally in ‘risk assets’ such as the AUD, NZD and equity markets – US equity indices are approaching all-time highs.

Presidents Xi and Trump will hold an extended meeting at the G20 summit on 28-29 June in Osaka, with their respective teams beginning discussions prior to this. Trade talks fell apart in May after the US accused China of reneging on provisions of a tentative trade agreement, while Beijing said the US had raised its demands.

Overnight, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said the ECB was ready to add further stimulus if needed, including cutting interest rates and more asset purchases. The race to ‘zero’ is on, with central banks in Australia, New Zealand, Russia, India and Chile having all recently lowered interest rates - the Reserve Bank of Australia said in their Monetary Policy Meeting Minutes yesterday that further rate cuts were more likely than not.

The US Federal Reserve completes its 2-day interest rate meeting tomorrow morning (local time). It is anticipated the Fed will continue to prime the markets for a rate cut, with markets expectations indicating their next meeting as being ‘live’.

In other interesting news, it has been reported the Trump administration explored demoting US Fed Chairman Jerome Powell in February. President Trump has been highly critical of the Fed for not cutting interest rates and accused them of holding back the US economy and equity markets – independence anyone?

The GBP remained near its lows after Brexit cheerleader Boris Johnson was confirmed as the front runner to become the UK’s next Prime Minister.

Global equity markets were mostly sharply higher on the day - Dow +1.4%, S&P 500 +1.1%, FTSE +1.2%, DAX +2.0%, CAC +2.2%, Nikkei -0.7%, Shanghai +0.1%.

Gold prices gained 0.3% to USD$1,347 an ounce. WTI Crude Oil prices leaped a massive 4.3% higher to US$54.03 per barrel on US-China trade deal hopes and continuing Mideast tensions.

Upcoming Data Releases

AU: Melbourne Institute Lending Index - 10:30 AEST / 12:30 NZST

Mid-Market Rates

AUDUSD0.68760.4%NZDUSD0.65260.5%AUDEUR0.61400.5%NZDEUR0.58280.7%AUDGBP0.5456-0.1%NZDGBP0.51950.3%AUDJPY74.550.2%NZDJPY70.750.3%AUDNZD1.0535-0.1%NZDAUD0.94900.1%GBPAUD1.83280.1%NZDCAD0.87320.2% GBPNZD1.9249-0.3%
Our *MarketWatch* page is live, please click here to access.

Get in touch with us for more information or pricing.


*Would you like daily international currency market news and insights delivered to directly to your inbox? Sign up to our country-specific updates below, and please browse the rest of our blog for more insights from XE offices around the globe.*

**Australia Morning Update  |  New Zealand Morning Update**