:: Australian Dollar: Yesterday's employment data showed a rise in the official unemployment rate from 4.4% to 4.5% with the economy shedding 1,200 jobs in December. The result was broadly in line with expectations and with the Aussie dollar having slipped to sit around the 66 cent mark before the announcement it remained range bound for the majority of the Asian session and early Europe. After exchanging between 0.6560 and 0.6630 the AUD came to life after the ECB rate announcement spiking to a high of 67 cents before dipping to 0.6540. This morning sees it open back at 0.6640 after U.S equity markets recovered from their lows to finish in positive territory.

- We expect a range today in the AUD/USD rate of 0.6585 to 0.6685

:: Great Britain Pound: With no UK economic data released overnight movement in the Pound Sterling was driven predominately by movements against the Euro. The ECB met the markets expectation of a 0.5% interest rate cut overnight triggering a fall in EUR/GBP from above 0.9 to a low of 0.8950. With U.S equity markets rallying 300 points from intraday lows to finish up slightly the Pound also bounced back to finish the overnight session near the highs at 1.4650 against the Greenback. The GBP/AUD cross rate opens marginally above 2.2 this morning down from its overnight highs near 2.2300.

- We expect a range today in the GBP/AUD rate of 2.1880 to 2.2080

:: New Zealand Dollar: The Kiwi remained fairly range bound between 0.5330 and 0.5400 for the majority of the offshore session. Direction continued to come from movements in equity markets and on the NZD/AUD cross rate which reached a low of 0.8050 overnight. The NZD recovered from a brief dip to 0.5275 against the Greenback overnight on the back of a bounce back in U.S equities to open this morning at 0.5375.

- We expect a range today in the NZD/USD rate of 0.5300 to 0.5400

:: Majors: The ECB delivered what the market expected overnight reducing interest rates by 0.5% to take the official rate to 2%, matching the all time low for the region. The Euro initially traded down on the news falling from near 1.3200 to a low of 1.3030 before bouncing back towards 1.3200. Inspiration for the recovery came from comments by central bank President Trichet following the decision. In his address he signalled the possibility that rates remain on hold at the next meeting in February forcing traders to scale back pricing on the futures market. In other news inflation in Europe fell to levels within the ECB's range for stability falling by 0.1% in December to take the annual rate to 1.6% whilst in U.S economic data Producer Prices dropped from -2.2% to -1.9%. The big dollar bounced back from its early European lows at 88.50 to open this morning at 89.80. Tonight sees the release of some key U.S data including CPI, TIC flows, Industrial Production and the University of Michigan Confidence preliminary reading all of which ensure another volatile finish to the weeks trade on currency markets.

:: Data Releases:

• AUD: No data expected today

• NZD: No data expected today

• USD: Dec Industrial Production, Dec CPI, Nov TIC Flows & Jan UoM Confidence

• GBP: No data expected today

• EUR: Nov Trade Balance

• JPY: No data expected today

• CAD: No data expected today

:: Note: The above exchange rates are based on interbank rates. If you are considering a transfer then please login, register or call us for a live dealing rate.

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