GBP AUD And GBP NZD Exchange Rates Recover Following Weak Australian Employment Data

Published: Wednesday, 6 February 2013 15:00 BST - Written by James Fuller

STORY LINK GBP AUD And GBP NZD Exchange Rates Recover Following Weak Australian Employment Data

A highly disappointing set of Australian Retail Sales figures for the key month of December, released during last night’s Asian session, have caused patchy appetite for risk-laden assets so far today. The Aussie shop sales numbers, which follow on from the Reserve Bank of Australia’s downbeat policy statement, released earlier this week, have sent the Pound Australian Dollar exchange rate (currency : GBP AUD), back above the 1.5200 level today. The Pound has enjoyed a similarly positive session against the risk-sensitive New Zealand Dollar, gaining over half of a percentage point against the ‘Kiwi’ thanks to waning risk appetite.

The Pound’s performance against the euro has also been relatively go-ahead, following yesterday’s dismal performance. Price action for the pair over the past 48hrs has been reminiscent of the movement on Friday and Monday – a major sell-off of Sterling, causing a dip of over 1% in GBP EUR has been followed by a healthy recovery the next trading day. Both moves came towards the end of their respective sessions, suggesting that institutional investors remain unwilling to park their funds in Sterling-denominated assets overnight because of fears that the UK may be stripped of its highly-valued AAA credit rating at a moment’s notice.

Looking ahead to the next 24hrs, tonight’s New Zealand Q4 unemployment data will be closely-watched, with analysts anticipating a drop in the overall level of joblessness from 7.3% in Q3 to 7.1% in Q4. Anything less than this will heap further pressure on the ‘Kiwi’, potentially sending the GBP NZD exchange rate back towards the psychologically-key 1.9000 level once more.

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TAGS: Australian Dollar Forecasts Currency Predictions Euro Forecasts Eur Forecasts