Daily Forecast - 9/3/2010

:: Australian Dollar: The Aussie dollar began the week on a positive note rising in Asia amidst optimism of a global economic recovery and speculation Greece will be supported financially by other European nations. French President Sarkozy said Europe was ready to help, triggering a resurgence in the carry trade and general risk taking. The AUD climbed against most currencies rising from Friday's close of 0.9065 to above 91 U.S cents for the first time since January 21 entering European exchange at 0.9105. Support around 0.9100 held in early offshore trade however after several failed attempts to break through 0.9130 following strong German data the AUD/USD lost momentum to slide lower and opens this morning at 0.9090 with the release of the Australian NAB Business survey and ANZ Job Advertisements out today.

- We expect a range today in the AUD/USD rate of 0.9065 to 0.9130

:: Great Britain Pound: Resistance ahead of 1.5200 capped any attempts at further upside on the Cable during early London exchange with the Pound Sterling settling back around 1.5150 against the Greenback for the majority of the session. With a lack of any meaningful economic data releases out of the U.S the GBP lost momentum as speculators once again stepped in to sell it, pushing GBP/USD to this morning's open of 1.5070 whilst the GBP/AUD cross rate is also lower at 1.6570 this morning. The GBP/NZD opens marginally weaker today at 2.1500.

- We expect a range today in the GBP/AUD rate of 1.6525 to 1.6625

:: New Zealand Dollar: A large rise in February QV house price index and a 0.7% increase in N.Z Q4 Manufacturing Activity helped the Kiwi dollar gain support during yesterdays local session. Adding to demand for the NZD was a run higher in the AUD with general optimism around a U.S economic revival continuing to gather steam following Fridays payroll data. The rally saw NZD/USD trade up from the open around 0.6950 to enter European exchange near its highs around 70 cents however resistance around 0.7025 held firm despite strong German industrial production data which saw the U.S dollar sell off. The NZD opens this morning relatively unchanged at 0.7000 and 1.2990 against the USD and AUD respectively with N.Z February Card Spending data scheduled for release today.

- We expect a range today in the NZD/USD rate of 0.6970 to 0.7020

:: Majors: USD/JPY came to life in Asia yesterday following better than expected Japanese trade data peaking at 90.65 before profit takers stepped in, ?keeping a lid on any further upside moves with the big dollar hovering around 90.40 heading into offshore exchange. Better than expected German Industrial Production data inspired a bounce in EUR/USD from 1.3640 to 1.3690 before retracing during the ?North American time-zone as a lack of U.S data saw directionless trade late in the session taking the big dollar to this morning's open around 1.3625 and 90.30 against the EUR and JPY respectively.

:: Data Releases: