Australian Dollar
The Australian dollar fell and fell hard during domestic trade yesterday with cracks well and truly starting to appear across global markets. Following on from the concerns echoed from BHP earlier in the week that China’s demand for Steel is likely to diminish over time, the Chinese manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index fell to 48.1 in March, the lowest level in four months. Whilst anything below 50 is deemed to be a contraction, such figures further demonstrate that momentum is clearly slowing in China. In a clear move away from Australia’s currency investors sold the commodity backed unit down from an earlier high of 1.0482 against its US Counterpart to overnight low of 1.0335. Having now breached the critical 1.04 mark the bias in the Aussie is now clearly lower. In what has been a monumental week for trading for the higher-yielding asset the Australian Dollar opens 60 basis points lower this morning currently trading at a rate of 1.0382.

We expect a range today of 1.0320 – 1.0440

New Zealand Dollar
In an overall bearish day for the New Zealand Dollar, the Kiwi got off to a poor start yesterday following a release which showed Gross Domestic Product rose 0.3 percent in the three months ended Dec.31 from the previous quarter, well below the expected rise of 0.6 percent. Further compounding the woes of the New Zealand dollar, substantial downside was triggered mid afternoon in which a private report signalled Chinese Manufacturing contracted for the month of March, fuelling speculation that demand for the South Pacific Nation’s exports will soften. With news flows disappointing investors across the board the Kiwi traded between a 24 hour range of (0.8058 - 0.8153) against its US Counterpart to where we find it this morning, half a cent weaker, currently buying 80.85 US Cents.

We expect a range today of 0.8040 – 0.8120

Great British Pound
The Sterling has been out of favour with investors over the past 24 hours, weighed down heavily by disappointing European and Chinese manufacturing results. After beginning the day at a rate of 1.5863 against its US Counterpart, UK Stocks further declined after Retail Sales fell more than economists forecast in February with an overall reading of negative 0.8 percent. After bottoming out a rate of 1.5769, the sterling kicks off this morning at a rate of 1.5815 unable to make any further advances towards the critical 1.60 level. In what has been an overall disappointing week for the Great British Pound the Sterling has managed to find some minor support against both the Aussie (1.5228) and the Kiwi (1.9544) with both cross rates opening stronger this morning.

We expect a range today of 1.5170 – 1.5290

Majors:
The S&P 500 lost 0.7 percent as US Stocks tumbled followed a string a disappointing releases overnight. Headlining those disappointments were manufacturing readings out China, Germany and France which all came in well below expectation. Whilst many expected the slight pull-back in equity markets given the S&P Index has rallied a stunning a 11 percent this quarter, the best start to a year since 1998 many investors are now being forced to scale back their global growth projections for the year ahead given cracks are now starting to appear across markets. Despite comments made out of the ECB overnight stating that the worst of the Euro-Zone crisis is now over there have certainly been enough factors at play to warrant the strong shift away for riskier backed assets overnight. Following Industrial new orders which also came in well below expectation the 17-nation Euro fell to reach an eventual low of 1.3122 against its US Counterpart to open weaker this morning at a rate of 1.3185. Meanwhile in the US overnight, the news wasn’t all bad for the world’s largest economy which saw weekly unemployment claims drop by 5000 in further signs that the labour market is slowly starting to normalise. On the Greenback front whilst many of the majors have struggled in comparison, the world’s reserve currency has been the major benefactor of global risk-flows of late stronger across the board

Data releases

AUD:
No Data Today

NZD: No Data Today

JPY:
No Data Today

GBP: Nationwide Consumer Confidence, BBA Mortgage Approvals.

EUR:
Italian Retail Sales

USD:
New Home Sales, Fed Chairman Bernanke Speaks, FOMC Member Lockhart Speaks