Forex Trading Log

The Aussie touched one week highs on today’s Asian forex trade. The rally was a little stifled as a result of caution in the markets ahead of US employment data coming up overnight. This morning the Aussie was around 77.90 cents compared to 77.73 cents yesterday. Sue Trinh, currency strategist at RBC Capital, have noted that carry trades have gained renewed interest with investors encouraged by signs of consolidation in world share markets. Is the dollar set for recovery above 78 cents when just a week ago we were thinking about 80 cents? Hmm – something to ponder in the weekend.

Happy New Year to all my readers! I hope you have a successful year in your forex trading. It has only been 4 days into the new year and we have seen the Aussie dollar pass the resistance it was grappling with in the final days of 2006. The Aussie dollar has reached highs of up to US$0.7980 cents yesterday - even with no apparent economic data. Oh boy - but once some economic data came out of the US, reality came back to the trader’s heads and the dollar started falling… sharply.

The Australian dollar is the official currency of the Commonwealth of Australia since 1966. The currency is commonly abbreviated with the dollar sign “$”. Other notations used to distinguish the Australian dollar from other currencies are $A or A$, $AU or AU$ and its official ISO currency code is AUD. To locals and currency traders the currency is commonly referred to as simply “the Aussie” or “the Aussie Dollar“.

The Aussie dollar traded firmer today (Wednesday) after favourable crossrates against the Japanese yen. However, Aussie trade was stagnant with little stimulus from local or offshore data. The Aussie dollar has recovered from its recent lows of just below 78 cents and low it lies around 78.41 US cents. The Aussie was up to Y92.59 from 92.06 yesterday. US Treasurys initially fell in response to U.S. November producer price index (PPI) data and a report on housing starts but recovered in the afternoon, closing unchanged.

The Australian dollar recovered somewhat from a daily dip down to US$0.7775 in New York trade and the currency is now hovering above 78 cents. Local economic news is scarce around this time of the year – more major economic news are coming in the new year. Australian Government bonds ended slightly firmer, moving away from their year lows. A quiet U.S. Treasurys market yesterday meant few leads were on offer for local traders. Interest is focused on the release later today for the US November producer price index (PPI) data and a report on housing starts data.

The Aussie dollar drifted lower in trading today after the US dollar found some strength. Australian government bonds closed lower after a mixed session in the U.S. Treasury market on Friday after U.S. November inflation data surprised on the downside. At 0530 GMT, the Aussie dollar was at US$0.7812, down from last weeks close of US$0.7820 late last Friday. The Aussie dollar traded at Y92.25 against the Yen, up from Y92.17.