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The Opening Bell: Where currencies start on Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Currencies
The Opening Bell: Where currencies start on Tuesday, September 13, 2011

By Dan Bell

 

The NZD/USD had a volatile session overnight as markets remain nervous of a Greek default. At one stage the NZD/USD was trading as low as 0.8110 but a positive finish for US stock markets has the NZD back over 0.8200 this morning.

 The positive finish for US equities has been partially attributed to news that China is looking to make ‘significant’ purchases of Italian bonds and investments in strategic Italian companies.

The AUD was one of the worst performing currencies overnight dropping to a low of 1.0250 USD but rallied 100 points this morning to trade back around 1.0350!

NZD/AUD gained 100 points overnight to make a high of 0.7966!? Perhaps the long positioning in the AUD is being flushed out with the increased uncertainty for the global economy.

Gold prices are down 2.5%- speculation that investors are cutting positions to fund margin calls on underwater equity positions.

The NZD opens relatively unchanged against the other major cross rates around 0.60 EUR, 63.50 JPY, 0.5180 GBP.

On the local front we get Manufacturing Sales data and the Food Price Index at 10:45. In Australia NAB Business Confidence is released.

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Dan Bell is the senior currency strategist at HiFX in Auckland. You can contact him here

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