Asian Session – Aussie under pressure after weak business investment data
February 27, 2014 7:42 am
Geopolitical risk with regards to the events in Ukraine and Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen’s testimony later today gave markets a cautious tone. The dollar eased against the yen after a brief rally induced by strong US new home sales data yesterday.
Purchases of new homes increased 9.6% in January to 468,000, exceeding estimates of 406,000 and up from a prior revised 427,000. This was good news especially after a recent series of weak US data. Markets will focus on Janet Yellen’s Q&A session at the Senate Banking Committee later today to see what she makes of the weak data lately.
The dollar opened the Asian session at 102.35 after hitting a high of 102.60 in the US session and traded mostly in a 20-point range to end in Asia at 102.38, up 0.03%.
In other news, Australian Private Capital Expenditure (Capex) data came in weaker-than-forecast putting pressure on the aussie. Australian business investment fell 5.2 % in the last quarter, the biggest decline in over four years. Spending plans for 2014-2015 also missed forecasts, highlighting the struggling economic recovery and raising concern about another cut in interest rates.
The Australian dollar opened in Asia at 0.8966 and then tumbled lower after the soft Capex data to end at 0.8930 with a 0.40% loss.
In other currencies, the euro was steady against the dollar, closing flat at 1.3686 after a range-bound session. Yesterday the euro tumbled to as low as 1.3660 from 1.3740 as heightened tensions in Ukraine put the euro under pressure. Focus will be on Friday’s Eurozone inflation data.
Sterling had a quiet session against the dollar, ending down 0.01% at 1.6671.
In today’s European session, German employment data will be released. In addition to Yellen’s testimony, US jobless claims data and durable goods orders will also be in focus in the US session today.
Geopolitical risk with regards to the events in Ukraine and Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen’s testimony later today gave markets a cautious tone. The dollar eased against the yen after a brief rally induced by strong US new home sales data yesterday.
Purchases of new homes increased 9.6% in January to 468,000, exceeding estimates of 406,000 and up from a prior revised 427,000. This was good news especially after a recent series of weak US data. Markets will focus on Janet Yellen’s Q&A session at the Senate Banking Committee later today to see what she makes of the weak data lately.
The dollar opened the Asian session at 102.35 after hitting a high of 102.60 in the US session and traded mostly in a 20-point range to end in Asia at 102.38, up 0.03%.
In other news, Australian Private Capital Expenditure (Capex) data came in weaker-than-forecast putting pressure on the aussie. Australian business investment fell 5.2 % in the last quarter, the biggest decline in over four years. Spending plans for 2014-2015 also missed forecasts, highlighting the struggling economic recovery and raising concern about another cut in interest rates.
The Australian dollar opened in Asia at 0.8966 and then tumbled lower after the soft Capex data to end at 0.8930 with a 0.40% loss.
In other currencies, the euro was steady against the dollar, closing flat at 1.3686 after a range-bound session. Yesterday the euro tumbled to as low as 1.3660 from 1.3740 as heightened tensions in Ukraine put the euro under pressure. Focus will be on Friday’s Eurozone inflation data.
Sterling had a quiet session against the dollar, ending down 0.01% at 1.6671.
In today’s European session, German employment data will be released. In addition to Yellen’s testimony, US jobless claims data and durable goods orders will also be in focus in the US session today.
Related Posts: