Australian Dollar Outlook

Australia: The Australian dollar has opened relatively unchanged from yesterday following a mixed session offshore overnight.

The AUD traded within a tight range of USD0.9310-0.9350, as stocks markets gained little ground and commodity prices put in a mixed performance.

During yesterday's local session, China said its economy grew by 11.9% in the first three months of the year.

It was the second successive quarter of double digit growth for the world's third-largest economy and highlighted its recovery from a slowdown caused by the global slump.

It also increased talk of China raising their reserve requirement for the banks to prevent the economy from overheating, this talk weighed on the AUD because any tightening would diminish demand for Australian goods.

Also weighing on the AUD overnight was the announcement by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) about an exploratory mission to Greece next week.

Investors still remain nervous about the situation and as such sold down the EUR which flowed through to other growth currencies like the AUD.

With no major data being released during the domestic session, the AUD is likely to trade within overnight ranges.

Majors: It was another mixed session offshore as recent themes like the Greece bailout and Chinese interest rates remained the key focus for investors.

The EUR was under pressure as investors remained hungry for details of how the rescue plan will work amid concerns on whether or not Greece can continue to raise the money on the financial markets.

Its becoming apparent that Greece is struggling to raise the money from the markets and that it may have to ask for financial assistance from the EU and the IMF fund as early as this month.

As long as these concerns continue the EUR will be under pressure until investors are satisfied with some sort of clear cut outcome.

As mentioned above the Chinese were also in the spotlight with the release of strong GDP results, prompting talk of policy changes to help cool the economy.

With some data out of the EU and US tonight, currencies are likely to trade in choppy ranges.