The aussie is higher at $1.0546 vs $1.0532 close last week, after moving lower on Friday when it failed to break past the $1.0600 mark and eased in line with weakness in commodities and lack-luster equities. No major news over the weekend but expectations of rise in local equities is supporting the aussie apart from reports suggesting efforts are being made to make the aussie fully convertible vs the yuan. The day ahead is busy with data releases starting with TD-MI’s monthly inflation gauge, ANZ job ads for December and housing finance for November. But the main event in the coming week is address by Fed chief Bernanke this evening (0800 Sydney time Tuesday) which is his first public address since December FOMC minutes, say analysts. If the speech proved USD-negative (as analysts expects) then the aussie will retest $1.0599 high at some point in the coming 24-48 hours, they say.
EasyForexNews Research Team