The Australian dollar is taking the spotlight as the Reserve Bank of Australia is set to have its decision about the current interest rate levels, and the market thus far is not expecting anything much from the RBA. With the interest rate held at 1.50% it still remains one of the highest in the developed world, but the Australian economy is currently waiting to see what the outcome will be from the Trump effect, and while things have been rocky it does seem that the economy is starting to look slightly better. However, yesterdays retail sales showed that it’s not all smooth sailing as it dipped to -0.1% m/m (0.3% exp), this result lends weight to the fact that the RBA may touch on the consumer economy not picking up as expected. But the real weight will be focused I feel on the economy as a whole and the commodity sector which has been recovering in recent months in anticipation of the global economy picking up.
Markets have been very much a fan of commodity currencies in recent weeks, with global risk appetite picking up the demand for yield has lead to large jumps in the NZD and of course the AUD, with the AUD looking very much the stronger of the two. So far the AUDUSD has been on a very bullish trend and it certainly has not seemed to lose any steam at present. The 20 day moving average has acted as dynamic support as it has moved up the chart, and this looks likely to be the first real test as comes under pressure. After all markets can’t remain bullish forever, especially when it comes to FX markets. At the same time resistance at 0.7680 has so far stifled the bulls in there run up the charts, but the recent bearish movement has found strong bullish sentiment so expectations are building for further movements past this level onto the next major level at 0.7730.
Global up turn has so far been talked about, but not come through just yet. However, oil markets have been looking more and more uncertain when it comes to direction for the majority of traders. One thing that does remain clear is that oil is coming under further pressure in the markets to find some direction. At present the 20 day moving average continues to act as dynamic support and is pushing the bears out of the market as it looks to take on the key level of resistance at 54.46. As the two come together expectations will build for a bullish breakout, or if we had a reversal we could see some strong bearish pressure. Pressure will build though, and the bulls have the advantage in this sort of scenario and fundamentals starting to lean in their favour.