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The Opening Bell: Where currencies start for Monday, October 21, 2013

Currencies
The Opening Bell: Where currencies start for Monday, October 21, 2013

By Dan Bell

The NZD/USD opens around 0.8480 after trading to interbank highs just over the 0.85 level on Friday night.

The US Dollar was under pressure again on increased speculation the Fed will leave its bond-buying program intact until well into next year.

The US dollar index which measures the dollar's value against a basket of currencies, fell to 79.47, its lowest since early February. The AUD/USD is trading to its highest levels since early June over 0.9650.

Economic data from China released on Friday afternoon was generally in line with expectations with GDP coming in at 7.8%.

Global equities finished the week on a positive note with the S&P 500 Index up 0.65% on Friday to close at fresh all times highs over 1,744.

The NZD opens at current indicative levels: 0.8770 AUD, 0.62 EUR, 0.5246 GBP, 82.90 JPY and 0.8728 CAD.

From NZ we get migration data this morning at 10:45am.

The focus of markets this week will be on a raft of US economic data that was delayed due to the government shutdown. The main event being the US Employment Report which is released on Wednesday morning at1:30am NZT. The market consensus is for jobs growth in Sep of 180K and the unemployment rate to remain steady at 7.3%.

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

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