Australian Dollar: Reports from Australia revealed business confidence had declined from the previous month while the number of new homes for the 3rd quarter contracted by -13.2%. The Aussie dipped to an intra-day low of 0.9940 against the Greenback upon release of the data. Following the release the pair traded tightly, hovering between 0.9940-0.9965 before moving offshore.  Demand for risk improved overnight following economic data indicating continued improvements in economic conditions around the world. Improvements in European sentiment and strong US retail sales figures bolstered investor confidence, propelling the Aussie to a fresh 4 week high of 1.002 US Dollars.

Read more…

Australian Dollar:  The Aussie rallied quite sharply on Thursday hitting an intraday high of 0.9880 on the back of stronger-than-expected jobs data. The Australian economy added a total of 54,600 positions in November – the most since January – for an unemployment rate of 5.2 per cent, down from the previous month’s level of 5.4 per cent. The unit climbed from 0.9780 as investors speculate that interest rates may need to rise in the first quarter of 2011. This was a different tune to Tuesday when RBA governor Glenn Stevens suggested that rates “in the economy are now a little above average”. During the

Read more…

Dec. 9 () – Broadlands Finance Ltd., the auto-financier controlled by Tony Radisich, had its credit rating cut two notches to B by Standard & Poor’s as the post-government-guarantee finance sector gets shakier.

S&P analyst Peter Sikora said the lender, which missed out on securing a strong enough credit rating to get into the extended guarantee scheme, has a “weak liquidity position, vulnerable funding profile and high-risk loan portfolio” which prompted the downgrade. He also put it on a negative outlook. About 60% of the firm’s loans were in default as at Aug. 31, and B

Read more…

Dec. 3 () – The Securities Commission says it has initiated 50 separate investigations, prosecutions, or referrals to other authorities in relation to the recent spate of finance company collapses.

Stung by suggestions from one of the country’s top lawyers, Bell Gully chairman Roger Partridge, that it “nodded off” during the finance company collapses, the commission released a list showing some 24 finance companies, including Hanover, Geneva, Equitable, South Canterbury and others less well-known, are the subject of continuing investigations.

In another 14 cases, charges have been laid and court action is pending, including against such well-known names as Bridgecorp, Capital & Merchant, Five Start, Nathans, and Lombard Finance.

The commission listed a further 12 finance companies, whose activities had been referred to another enforcement agency or, in eight cases, closed. In ever

Read more…

Nov. 29 () – New Zealand stocks rose for the first time in three sessions, as investors took their lead from Australia, which shrugged off some of the nervous sentiment stalking global markets. Air New Zealand Ltd. paced gainers on the day, while Kathmandu Holdings fell.

The NZX 50 Index gained 6.13 points, or 0.2%, to 3,270.38. Within the index, 17 stocks rose, 16 declined and 17 were unchanged. Turnover was $74.1 million.

In afternoon trade, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.4% to 4,615.4, bucking the trend on global markets where investors are collapsing their riskier positions amid lingering concerns around Europe’s sovereign debt situation and heightening tensions on the Korean peninsula.

“Where a lot of the selloff is focused is on the commodity players, or beta stocks, which is not that big over here, so we’re tending to see a muted exposure,” said Peter Sigley, an institutional broker for Goldman Sachs & Partners. “The key le

Read more…

The US dollar strengthened against most major currencies after new housing prices and wholesale inventories rose slightly. New housing prices rose to 0.2 percent above expectations for a rise of 0.1 percent, while wholesale inventories rose to 1.5 percent from a consensus of 0.6 percent. The market will look towards this week’s meeting of the Group of 20 leaders in South Korea, where one of the topics will be preventing a currency “war” where countries rush to protectionism, which would hamper the overall global recovery. In the meantime look for the dollar to hold close to current ranges ahead of initial jobless claims and trade balance figures tomorrow, where expectations are for a loss of 450,000 jobs and a slight decline in the trade figure to -$45.6 billion from -$46.35 billion last month.

Read more…

Many important events await forex traders this week with Ben Bernanke’s Speech, US Existing Home Sales, American Consumer Confidence, US Durable Goods Orders, Unemployment Claims and Advance GDP. Here’s an outlook for the major market-moving events that will shape forex trading.The U.S. Dollar continued its decline against most of the other major currencies last week partly due to the mixed nature of U.S. economic releases. Key employment numbers from the United States continue to weaken, while some numbers such as Retail Sales showed some improvement. This week features many market moving events for the USD. Let’s see whether the USD will change direction this week. 1. Ben B Read more…