RBA interest rate decision and press conference overnight, along with retail sales, import and export figures too

AUDGBP Lower as Retail Sales Slump Down Under

We have plenty of market data for the market to get stuck into this week, with the Australian Dollar struggling a little recently this may also lead to further weakness for the Australian Dollar unless we hear some positive news.

There have been numerous analysts commenting recently that they felt we may see a slight period of turbulence for the Australian Dollar and one of the reasons behind this had been expectations of very little interest rate movement throughout 2018.

A higher interest rate is generally good for the currency concerned as it makes it more attractive to investors. The Australian interest rate spent quite some time being much more beneficial than that of most other majors which is why the Australian Dollar has remained so strong over the past few years.

What we are seeing now is that other major economies (such as the U.S and U.K) are starting to raise their interest rates, most notably the U.S and this is leading to investors moving their money out of the Australian Dollar and into the U.S Dollar, thus weakening the Australian Dollar and making it cheaper to buy.

Expectations are for three further interest rate hikes from the U.S this year and with both the U.S and Australian interest rate sat at 1.5% a further move from the states may lead to this flow of money out of AUD as explained above.

This is why focus is on the RBA and their Tuesday interest rate decision, no changes to rates are expected but it will be comments in their following statement that will be watched very closely, as any hint in future rate changes (or that they plan not to make any changes this year) may lead to sharp Australian Dollar movements.

The other economic data will also be important, but I feel that the star of the show will be any news on the next move from the RBA.

If you have a currency exchange to make in the coming days, weeks or months ahead and you would like assistance then I can help you. Having working at my current brokerage for over ten years I am in a good position to not only help you with the timing of your transfer but also getting the best rate of exchange when you do come to book it.

For more information or simply to get a quote on the rates that we can offer feel free to email me (Daniel Wright) personally on [email protected] and I will be more than happy to get back in touch with you.