Australian And New Zealand Dollars Advance Against Majors
02:09, 20th August 2012
(RTTNews) - The Australian and New Zealand dollars strengthened against their major counterparts in Asian trading on Monday ahead of the European leaders meeting this week to discuss measures to combat the region's debt crisis.
Luxembourg's Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, who also heads the group of euro-area finance ministers, will discuss the request by Greece's Prime Minister Antonis Samaras for a two- year extension to the indebted nation's fiscal adjustment program when he visits Athens on August 22.
Samaras will travel to Berlin and Paris on August 24 and 25 after French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel meet in the German capital on August 23.
Elsewhere, Germany's Spiegel magazine reported Sunday without mentioning its sources that the European Central Bank is considering setting limits on yields of Eurozone sovereign bonds.
The central bank will intervene and buy the bonds if their interest rates exceed a pre-determined threshold above German bonds, the magazine said.
According to the report, ECB will announce the size of its bond buys from each euro member states immediately after the purchases to improve transparency.
The Australian dollar that ended Friday's trading at 1.0421 against the U.S. dollar rose to 1.0458 in Asian deals. On the upside, 1.048 is seen as the next target level for the aussie-greenback pair.
The Australian dollar climbed to 1.1799 against the euro and 1.0341 against the Canadian dollar, compared to Friday's close of 1.1833 and 1.0308, respectively. The next upside target level for the aussie is seen at 1.178 against the euro and 1.037 against the loonie.
Against the Japanese yen, the Australian dollar strengthened to 83.15 from Friday's close of 82.91. The near term resistance level for the aussie-yen pair is seen at 83.4.
The New Zealand dollar also advanced, hitting as high as 1.5229 against the euro, 64.40 against the yen and 0.8098 against the US dollar. If the kiwi gains further, it will target 1.520 per euro, 0.812 against the greenback and 64.5 against the yen. The kiwi closed last week's trading at 1.5265 against the euro, 64.21 against the yen and 0.8070 against the greenback.
In economic news, an index measuring the service sectors in New Zealand came in at a score of 53.1 in July, BNZ-Business New Zealand said today - remaining above the 50 mark that separates expansion from contraction. The headline figure is down from the downwardly revised 53.9 in June - which was originally pegged at 54.3.
There are no major economic reports due from Europe and the U.S. today.
Copyright(c) 2024 RTTNews.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved