Commodity Currencies Rise On Strong Asian Shares

(RTTNews) - Commodity currencies such as the Australia, the New Zealand and the Canadian dollars strengthened against their major currencies in the Asian session on Tuesday, as investors are trading mostly higher, following the broadly negative cues from global markets overnight. Traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of some key economic data in the coming days. Most currencies in the region also strengthened against the U.S. dollar.

Traders also were looking for additional clues about the outlook for interest rates, with optimism the U.S. Fed is done raising rates and might consider reducing them by the second half of 2024. The U.S., European and Chinese PMIs, eurozone inflation data and U.S. personal consumption numbers will be released this week.

Gains across most sectors, led by miners and technology stocks, also turned up the investor sentiment.

In economic news, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that the value of retail sales in Australia was down a seasonally adjusted 0.2 percent on month in October, coming in at A$35.767 billion. That missed expectations for an increase of 0.2 percent and was down from 0.9 percent in September.

On a yearly basis, retail sales rose 1.2 percent.

In the Asian trading today, the Australian dollar rose to a 3-week high of 1.6530 against the euro, from yesterday's closing value of 1.6575. The aussie may test resistance around the 1.63 region.

Against the U.S. and the Canadian dollars, the aussie advanced to nearly a 4-month high of 0.6632 and a 1-week high of 0.9021 from yesterday's closing quotes of 0.6606 and 0.8994, respectively. If the aussie extends its uptrend, it is likely to find resistance around 0.69 against the greenback and 0.91 against the loonie.

The aussie edged up to 1.0855 against the NZ dollar, from Monday's closing value of 1.0833. On the upside, 1.09 is seen as the next resistance level for the aussie.

The NZ dollar rose to nearly a 4-month high of 0.6115 and nearly a 1-month high of 1.7928 against the euro, from yesterday's closing quotes of 0.6096 and 1.7962, respectively. If the kiwi extends its uptrend, it is likely to find resistance around 0.62 against the greenback and 1.76 against the euro.

The Canadian dollar rose to 2-day highs of 1.3593 against the U.S. dollar and 1.4884 against the euro, from yesterday's closing quotes of 1.3615 and 1.4913, respectively. If the loonie extends its uptrend, it is likely to find resistance around 1.34 against the greenback and 1.45 against the euro.

Looking ahead, the European Central Bank releases monetary aggregates for October at 4:00 am ET in the European session. M3 is forecast to fall 0.9 percent annually after declining 1.2 percent in September.

In the New York session, U.S. house price index for September, U.S. CB consumer Confidence for November and U.S. Richmond Fed manufacturing index for November, are due to be released.