As the last month of the trading year began, an unexpected but welcome reading of China’s PMI data has helped to give commodity linked currencies a significant boost during the Asian trading session. Analysts had expected that the HSBC preliminary data would fall to a reading of 50.5 for November from October’s 50.9, however the data came in at 50.8, still solidly into an area deemed expansionary. This week is likely to be one fraught with uncertainty as several key central banks are holding their respective monetary policy meetings this week, along with the release of other important PMI data from the Eurozone and the U.S.
The Australian and New Zealand Dollars were both recipients of investors’ rise in confidence, with the AUD/USD gaining 0.2% to trade at $0.9118 and the NZD/USD surging 0.5% to trade at $0.8162. The Aussie and Kiwi also moved up against the safe haven Japanese Yen, with the AUD/JPY trading at 93.41 Yen and the NZD/USD trading at 83.66 Yen; both Australia and New Zealand’s economies are reliant on the Chinese economy to thrive given that they are both export oriented.
ECB Meeting Eyed for Clues
The European Central Bank is certain to be a focal point for investors this week, as they wonder whether Draghi will hint at moving interest rates yet again to shore up the Eurozone’s economy. The will also be scrutinizing the inflation outlook for the next two years for some additional insight into the ECB’s likely positioning.