Forex Today: Aussie slumps on dovish RBA’s Debelle, a quiet session ahead

The Asian session on the final trading day of the week was dominated by AUD moves, once again driven by the RBA. The Aussie plunged nearly 100-pips after the RBA Deputy Governor delivered dovish comments, citing that yesterday’s discussion of neutral rate at monetary policy meeting had no implications for policy. Contrarily, the Kiwi caught a fresh bid-wave and posted fresh multi-month tops on NZ FinMin Joyce’s comments, despite risk-off market profile.

Meanwhile, the US dollar staged a tepid-recovery against its major peers in Asia, recovering from almost yearly lows reached on renewed US political jitters, after yesterday’s reports of Special Counsel Robert Mueller examining a broad range of transactions involving Trump’s businesses and that of his close associates.

Main topics in Asia

Trump lawyers exploring pardoning powers – Washington Post

The Washington Post report says, “Some of President Trump’s lawyers are exploring ways to limit or undercut special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s Russia investigation.

NZD reflects strong economy – New Zealand Finance Minister

The 8.9% appreciation in the New Zealand dollar over the last months reflects the strong New Zealand economy, feels New Zealand Finance Minister Steven Joyce.

NZD/USD hits fresh 10-month tops on NZ’s Joyce comments

The NZD/USD pair finally broke its upside consolidation phase and went on to print fresh ten-month tops near 0.7430 region, in response to upbeat remarks from New Zealand’s Finance Minister Joyce.

RBA’s Debelle: Aussie rates do not have to rise in line with global peers

Comments from RBA’s Deputy Governor Guy Debelle crossing the wires… 

RBA’s Debelle: Rising AUD is complicating the economy's adjustment

Additional headlines now crossing the wires from the RBA Deputy Governor Debelle, as he now responds to the Q & A session.

Key Focus ahead

Looking ahead, with the key ECB decision out of the way, the EUR calendar remains absolutely quiet, except for the second-liner UK Public Sector Net Borrowing, allowing the EUR and GBP traders to catch some breath after yesterday’s volatile session. In contrast, the NA session remains quite action packed, with key macro news from Canada, viz. CPI and retail sales data releases. Meanwhile, the US docket remains data-empty.

EUR/USD - 5-week rally shows no signs of exhaustion as the US-German yield spread drops to Nov lows

EUR/USD jumped to a 2-year high of 1.1659 on Thursday as a mere suggestion by Draghi that the policy would be reviewed in the months ahead prompted FX markets to push the EUR higher.

GBP/USD: Range-play to continue amid lack of fresh drivers

The GBP/USD pair extended its overnight trend into Asia and remained better offered amid a minor-recovery staged by US dollar across the board and risk-off market profile.

Is EURO Headed for 1.20?

There's no stopping the euro now that European Central Bank President Mario Draghi made it clear that his concerns for low inflation are limited.