Lawrence Villamar

While the big news and major market mover over the last 24 hours has been the US election we did see some action locally yesterday with the release of the RBNZ biannual financial stability report. I

The Reserve Bank of Australia surprised a few investors yesterday by keeping the official cash rate unchanged at 3.25 percent.

Former French Prime Minister Francois Fillon has warned President Francois Hollande to rein in his "clumsy" attacks on German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

A busy ticket for Aussie data yesterday with retail sales, trade balance and ANZ job advertisements all being released but the results combined were generally uninspiring leaving us still with a 50/50 chance of a rate cut today.

As expected the final Asian session of last week was relatively quiet and we spent most the day trading either side of 1.04.

China and Russia believe they were "duped" to allow for military intervention in Libya, said former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan on Wednesday, and they are now "very hesitant" to intervene in Syria.

Shop owners and residents in India's capital of New Delhi will no longer be allowed to manufacture, import, store, sell or transport any kind of plastic bag starting from November 22 this year.

Chinese manufacturing figures passed us by yesterday with the net effect being nil.

Renewable energy capacitycould overtake nuclear power in the UK by 2018 if current growth rates persist, and will provide enough power for one in 10 British homes by 2015, according to new research by RenewableUK.

The Australian dollar received a boost yesterday after building approvals in the month of September accelerated by 7.8 percent. Comfortably beating the mean forecast of 1.9 percent investors took the opportunity to jump on the local unit taking it as high as 1.0398 against its US Counterpart.

Supported by firmer stocks in China and a lack of liquidity in the US overnight the Australian dollar has moved higher over the past 24hours.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered Gazprom, the country's pipeline gas export monopoly, to build a 3,200km pipeline from East Siberia to the Pacific port of Vladivostok, reported Reuters on Monday, in an attempt to reduce the nation's reliance on exports to Europe and develop closer ties with Asian customers.

It has been a slow start to the week for the Australian dollar which has once again run out of steam well short of the 1.04 mark against its US Counterpart.

Having failed at an attempted move above the 1.04 handle against its US Counterpart overnight Thursday, investors have once again struggled to commit fully to a sustained upward trend.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday that a single banking supervisory body will be set up in the course of next year, opening the way for the eurozone's rescue fund to inject capital directly into the region's ailing banks.

Japanese exports have tumbled at their sharpest pace since the aftermath of last year's earthquake and tsunami. More worryingly, exports to China have fallen to fresh lows amid a worsening territorial spat.

The focus yesterday was mainly on the mid-year budget released by Wayne Swan, with the savings included outlined in the release leading to a perceived increase in the chance for a rate cut on Melbourne Cup day.

Friday's Asian session was a fairly quiet one for the AUD with most willing to trade the ranges following a busy Thursday day and night .

China is slowing down but that may not necessarily be a bad thing. China's economic transformation could probably mean better quality growth, according to Goldman Sachs economist Jim O'Neill.

European leaders are scheduled to meet in Brussels today for a two-day summit, but early reports have revealed deep and uncomfortable divisions over a proposed banking union that is intended to underpin the eurozone.

The markets main focus yesterday was Chinese GDP, which came in on general expectations at 7.4%, printing the lowest GDP figure since March 2009 but still at a level which suggests the government may delay any further stimulus.

The Australian dollar firmed significantly against its US Counterpart yesterday after ratings agency Moody confirmed that it would keep Spain’s debt rating above junk bond status.

In minutes released by the Reserve Bank of Australia yesterday Governor Glenn Steven’s remained relatively dovish in his outlook for the local economy pointing towards a slowdown in China as one of the main reasons growth may struggle over the medium term.

Germany's push towards renewable energy sources will cause a sharp increase in electricity prices for consumers next year, reported AFP on Monday, with green power surcharges expected to rise by 47 percent while overall electricity costs will also go up by 7 percent.

Sales in the luxury market is expected to slow to around 5 percent this year as affluent Chinese shoppers cut back on their spending and concerns over the global financial crisis take its toll on shoppers elsewhere.

Following Governor Glenn Stevens’s dovish comments late last week that the RBA has considerable scope to lower borrowing costs, added emphasis has now been placed on the release of minutes from the Central Banks most recent meeting, which are due out this morning.

The Indonesian government is set to omit the English language as a subject from primary school education as part of a curriculum overhaul to come into effect next year, reported the Jakarta Post on Thursday.

Germany, the eurozone's largest economy, is in "great danger" of falling into recession, warned the country's leading economic think-tanks.

The Australian dollar consolidated weekly gains well on Friday after Trade Balance figures from China showed iron ore imports climbed at their quickest pace in 20-months.