AIRLINK 62.30 Increased By ▲ 1.87 (3.09%)
BOP 5.35 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
CNERGY 4.56 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-0.87%)
DFML 15.70 Increased By ▲ 0.86 (5.8%)
DGKC 66.26 Increased By ▲ 1.46 (2.25%)
FCCL 17.44 Increased By ▲ 0.58 (3.44%)
FFBL 27.85 Increased By ▲ 3.10 (12.53%)
FFL 9.32 Increased By ▲ 0.26 (2.87%)
GGL 10.05 Increased By ▲ 0.09 (0.9%)
HBL 105.41 Increased By ▲ 1.20 (1.15%)
HUBC 122.99 Increased By ▲ 5.47 (4.65%)
HUMNL 6.60 Increased By ▲ 0.06 (0.92%)
KEL 4.49 Decreased By ▼ -0.06 (-1.32%)
KOSM 4.45 Decreased By ▼ -0.12 (-2.63%)
MLCF 35.98 Increased By ▲ 0.57 (1.61%)
OGDC 122.85 Increased By ▲ 0.46 (0.38%)
PAEL 23.07 Increased By ▲ 1.16 (5.29%)
PIAA 29.34 Increased By ▲ 2.05 (7.51%)
PIBTL 5.84 Decreased By ▼ -0.10 (-1.68%)
PPL 106.50 Decreased By ▼ -0.87 (-0.81%)
PRL 27.16 Increased By ▲ 0.65 (2.45%)
PTC 18.45 Increased By ▲ 2.35 (14.6%)
SEARL 53.15 Decreased By ▼ -0.48 (-0.9%)
SNGP 63.39 Increased By ▲ 2.19 (3.58%)
SSGC 10.75 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
TELE 9.37 Increased By ▲ 0.88 (10.37%)
TPLP 11.33 Increased By ▲ 0.75 (7.09%)
TRG 71.60 Increased By ▲ 1.69 (2.42%)
UNITY 23.75 Increased By ▲ 0.24 (1.02%)
WTL 1.29 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.78%)
BR100 6,947 Increased By 68.7 (1%)
BR30 22,830 Increased By 261.7 (1.16%)
KSE100 67,119 Increased By 571.3 (0.86%)
KSE30 22,090 Increased By 175.1 (0.8%)
Markets

Australia, NZ dollars lift from one-week lows on benign Fed

  • The prospect of extended US monetary stimulus, boosted riskier assets such as the Aussie and kiwi dollars
Published July 29, 2021

SYDNEY: The Australian and New Zealand dollars inched higher on Thursday against their US counterpart which hit a two-week low as the Federal Reserve wrongfooted bulls by insisting that rate rises were still far off.

Overnight, the Fed sounded confident about the US economy but Chairman Jerome Powell was more circumspect in his news conference, saying rate increases were "a ways away" and the job market still had "some ground to cover".

The prospect of extended US monetary stimulus, boosted riskier assets such as the Aussie and kiwi dollars.

Australia dollar subdued by China jitters, Sydney lockdown extension

The Australian dollar rose from a one-week trough of $0.7317 touched on Wednesday to as high as $0.7381. The currency faces critical chart resistance around $0.7390, a breach above could take it as high as $0.7490.

The New Zealand dollar was last at $0.6962, up from a one-week low of $0.6968 touched on Wednesday.

The main focus for investors next will be US gross domestic product data due later in the day where forecasts vary wildly but the consensus is for 8.5% annualised growth.

"US growth look to have peaked - at least in the short term - in May so tonight's number will be closely watched," said Steven Dooley, currency strategist at Western Union Business Solutions.

Investors are also keeping a tab on a rapidly spreading COVID-19 outbreak in Australia's most populous city of Sydney which is in its fifth week of lockdown as authorities scramble to stamp out the highly transmissible Delta variant.

The outbreak has turned Australia's fortunes on its head with the country's economy seen shrinking in the third quarter, its first quarterly contraction since June 2020 despite early success in curbing the pandemic and largely reopening its economy.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) meets next week where it is widely expected to reverse an earlier decision to taper its bond buying programme from September while leaving the cash rate at a record low 0.1%.

New Zealand government bonds gained, sending yields two basis points lower at the long-end of the curve.

Australian government bond futures were unchanged, with the three-year bond contract flat at 99.725 and the 10-year contract at 98.85.

Comments

Comments are closed.