The Australian, New Zealand and Canadian dollars all rose strongly against the greenback today as risk appetite slowly returns to the markets.
Economic data was mixed with Australian job advertisements declining, but home loans and NAB business confidence improving. The New Zealand terms of trade also slowed in the fourth quarter but that has failed to dent the New Zealand dollar’s rise. The Canadian dollar on the other hand had good reasons to rally. Not only did oil prices rise to another record high, but the Canadian trade surplus increased more than expected as record oil prices offset a 9.9 percent drop in automobile shipments last month. New Zealand has food prices due for release this evening; we expect them to be firm given the recent surge in wheat, corn and rice prices.