The Euro has declined against the Australian Dollar ahead of a key EU meeting today, owing to a lack of investor receptiveness to domestic data.
- EUR AUD rate trades at 1.40 – AUD EUR trading hits 0.71
- Euro losses seen on mixed sales stats – Final Eurozone PMIs remain unchanged on previous month
- Australian Dollar climbs despite iron ore outlook – Global iron ore price forecast remains uncertain
- EC meeting to discuss possible Trump and Brexit effects – RBA rate decision due next week
The Australian Dollar has been able to edge up against the Euro today, but an uncertain future for iron ore prices has limited these gains to some extent.
Euro Australian Dollar Losses come with Eurozone Annual Retail Sales Slowdown
Today has seen a small drop in the Euro Australian Dollar exchange rate, which follows the day’s biggest Eurozone data being released.
In its final form, services and composite PMI stats remained static on the month in January while, elsewhere, retail sales in December remained negative on the month despite forecasts for a positive figure.
On the year, a slowdown in retail sales from 2.5% to 1.1% was seen, which proved worse than expected for Euro investors and contributed to the decline in value.
AUD EUR Exchange Rate Advance seen despite Mixed Expectations for Iron Ore Prices
The Australian Dollar has ticked up against the Euro today, though this comes on a data-deficient day for the Australian currency.
As well as suffering from the after-effects of heavy profit-taking on Thursday, the AUD’s limited gains against the Euro today have also been caused by concerns about the price of iron ore.
Forecasts have been decidedly polarised, with news that the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) has raised short-term interest rates, causing a drop off in iron ore futures.
On the other hand, estimates have come in that with Chinese officials shutting down obsolete or illegal steel mills, demand for iron ore from Australia will increase as more fuel efficient furnaces are brought online.
Domestic data has recently shown a slump in the AiG services index for January, which has further impeded the Australian Dollar’s positive progress against the Euro.
Future EUR AUD Forecast: EU Council due Today, AU Trade Stats Out Early Next Week
The Euro Australian Dollar exchange rate could be further influenced this afternoon by a meeting of European Council heads in Malta, where pressing issues that affect the EU are set to be discussed.
As well as deciding on a unified EU attitude to new US President Donald Trump, leaders will also be discussing how to handle the difficult matter of Brexit, which may well have a noticeable impact on the Eurozone in 2017, for good or ill.
The next Australian economic news isn’t expected until further ahead, when national retail sales data is released on Monday. Covering December, the sales stats previously hit a 0.2% figure.
Other notable Australian developments will include Tuesday’s Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) interest rate decision and Thursday’s business confidence figures.
The RBA previously left the Australian interest rate unchanged at 1.5%, but opinions are divided on the next decision by RBA policymakers.
Current EUR AUD Interbank Exchange Rates
At the time of writing, the Euro Australian Dollar (EUR AUD) exchange rate was trending in the region of 1.40 and the Australian Dollar Euro (AUD EUR) exchange rate was trending in the region of 0.71 today.
