FOREX

The Australian dollar opens around half a cent lower against its US Counterpart this morning following on from what has been an eventful 24 hours.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The AUD is holding steady around USD1.0750 as investors wait for news out of Europe regarding Greece's EUR130bio bailout package.

The Australian Dollar continued its bullish run as positive signs out of Europe spurred traders to continue to hold riskier assets.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian dollar has risen this morning to the high 1.0700's after China's weekend move to yet again lower the reserve requirements it imposes on its banks.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian dollar has risen almost a full US cent overnight to open at USD1.0750 this morning, up from USD1.0668 late Thursday.

A surprise to the upside in Australia’s unemployment rate sparked a brief rally in the local unit in a session that was otherwise dominated by a risk-off mode.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian dollar edged its way towards USD1.0800 during yesterday's local session but is back down under USD1.0700 this morning.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian dollar traded in a choppy fashion overnight, in sync with its European counterpart, after yesterday's sovereign ratings downgrades by Moodys.

US advance retail sales rose by just 0.4pct in January after a revised flat reading for December (previously +0.1pct). The main drag on the January result was auto sales which fell 1.1pct partly due to discounting. US business inventories rose by 0.4pct in December, while sales rose at a 0.7pct monthly pace - the largest rise since July 2011.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The AUD rallied yesterday after the Greek Parliament passed the austerity measures required by the European Commission, but failed to breach 1.0800.

The Australian Dollar rallied during local trade yesterday, moving from opening levels around 1.0680 to 1.0740 by the switch to London hours. Boosting demand for our local unit was a late night vote in Greece which resulted in the passing of austerity measures aimed at reducing the indebted nation’s budget deficit

The head of China´s $410 billion sovereign wealth fund, China Investment Corporation, said European government bonds were not an ideal investment for long-term investors.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The AUD tumbled on Friday from the close to 1.0800 to open just below 1.0700 this morning as financial markets became nervous before the vote on austerity measures by the Greek Parliament.

US jobless claims fell by 15,000 to 358,000 last week - against expectations of a rise and signalled the ongoing improvement in the labour market.

The Australian Dollar initially fell yesterday after reports out of China showed inflation for Australia’s largest trading partner accelerated to 4.5 percent, well above forecast.

Bell FX Currency Outlook:The Aussie traded to a low of USD 1.0740 in our session yesterday, to open at USD 1.0785 this morning with markets buoyed as Greek political leaders appeared to have come to an agreement on terms for the country's bailout.

The Australian Dollar has managed to hold on to the majority of its gains in overnight trade following the Shock decision by the RBA to keep the official cash rate on hold on Tuesday.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian dollar is largely unchanged this morning as the market awaits developments out of Greece.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian dollar is steady this morning trading at USD 1.0800 after reaching a new six-month high yesterday following the Reserve Bank of Australia's decision to leave the cash rate unchanged.

The Australian Dollar rallied to its highest level in six months versus its US Counterpart after the Reserve Bank of Australia surprised markets, keeping the official cash rate unchanged at 4.25 percent.

Retails Sales in Australia posted their weakest annual growth in 27 years with Annual Sales growing by a mere 2.4 percent in a report released by the ABS yesterday.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: Australia: The AUD continued to hold firm overnight despite weaker offshore equity markets and no progress from the Greek political parties.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar rallied again on Friday night as stronger than expected US data saw investors continue to build long positions in commodity currencies.

The Australian Dollar traded in cautious ranges throughout its onshore session on Friday, as markets remained on tenterhooks ahead of key unemployment data from the world's largest economy.

The optimism generated by the better-than-expected US jobs is seen to redound to the stock market.Analysts are bullish that Monday's trading will record some gains benefitting from the major averages posted by the Dow Jones Industrial Average, up 1.2% to close at 12862; the S&P climbed 1.5% at 1345; and the NASDAQ advanced 1.6% to end at 2906.

Although the Australian dollar had a great run coming into February, we expect the high-yielding currency to come under pressure next week as the Reserve Bank of Australia is expected to lower the benchmark interest rate.

Ahead: In Australia, the Performance of Services index is released. In the US, non-farm payrolls and factory orders are released.

The Australian Dollar gained 20-30 points during local trade yesterday after it was announced our trade surplus increased to 1.71 billion dollars from a previous 1.38 billion.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The local unit maintained momentum overnight touching a high against the US dollar of USD1.0745 to open above USD1.0700 this morning.