Australian Dollar
The Australian dollar lost ground against its US Counterpart on Friday after disappointing Trade Balance figures in China dampened demand for the higher yielding asset. Coming in well below expectation China’s exports rose by just 1 percent in July, boosting expectation that Chinese officials will need to take action to stimulate growth sooner rather than later. Falling to a later afternoon low of 1.0496 warnings out of the RBA that Australia’s strong currency poses an important risk to growth also did little to improve the prospects of the local unit. Gaining around half a cent from its domestic lows the Australian dollar opens this morning around a third of US Cent weaker at 1.0549.

We expect a range today of 1.0500 – 1.0600

New Zealand Dollar
The New Zealand Dollar got off to a poor start on Friday after figures showed China’s exports grew at a lower than expected 1 percent in July. Increasing speculation that Policy makers will continue to pour more stimuli at the world’s largest economy, a weak Trade Balance reading combined with poor Industrial Production and Inflationary figures released earlier in the week both point towards a lower level of altitude for China’s growth over the coming quarter. Falling to an afternoon low of 0.8082 against its US Counterpart the move lower was relatively short-lived after US Stocks continued their march forward giving the S&P 500 its longest advance since December 2010. In what was an overall rollercoaster ride for the Kiwi, New Zealand’s dollar has done well to recover from earlier losses at is opens this morning currently buying 81.23 US Cents

We expect a range today of 0.8070 -0.8170

Great British Pound
 Following a week in which The Bank of England cut both its growth and inflationary forecasts, Mervyn King said on Friday the UK must press ahead with banking reforms, re-iterating that in the absence of a European Debt crisis, efforts to stimulate growth locally would be a lot more productive. Whilst King also commented that the euro-area crisis has no obvious end in sight the Great British Pound remained relatively well supported for much of Friday’s session. After trading between a 24 hour range of (1.5576 – 1.5700) against its US Counterpart the Sterling opens around a third of cent stronger this morning at 1.5667. Meanwhile on the cross rates the Sterling opens stronger against both the Aussie (1.4828) and the Kiwi (1.9283).

We expect a range today of 1.4790 – 1.4870

Majors:
It was a similar story being told by markets overnight on Friday after a another bout of weaker than expected data only added to the likelihood of further stimulus out of both the US Fed and the ECB. Despite markets looking at a continued slowdown, signs of stagnating growth in China and a recession looming throughout Europe investors have continued to add risk to an already risk heavy docket as witnessed by the advance in Global equities which has seen the S&P 500 enjoy its longest rally since December 2010. With Italy’s PM Mario Monti warning of a potential breakup of the euro region should European Leaders not show greater urgency in efforts to lower borrowing costs the shared Unit opens only marginally lower this morning against its US Counterpart at 1.2288. In what has become a very congested area for the Euro, investors appear reluctant to take it out of its recent ranges (1.2150 -1.2350) until a more definitive solution to the regions credit risk is put forward.

Data releases

AUD: No data today

NZD: FPI m/m

JPY:
Prelim GDP q/q

GBP: No data today

EUR:
Germaine WPI m/m

USD:
No Data Today