Antipodean Currencies Fall As Most Asian Shares Traded Lower

(RTTNews) - Antipodean currencies such as the Australia and the New Zealand dollars weakened against their major counterparts in the Asian session on Friday, as most Asian stock markets traded lower after the latest batch of economic data from the U.S., Europe and Asia raised worries about a global economic slowdown.

"The Fed is surely encouraged by recent inflation data but needs to see a further slowdown in the labor market and wage growth to be persuaded that inflation is on a sustainable path back to 2%," said Nancy Vanden Houten, Lead U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics.

Crude oil prices fell sharply on fears of a likely drop in energy demand after soft data from the U.S., Europe and Asia raised worries about an economic slowdown. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December tumbled $3.76 or 4.9 percent at $72.90 a barrel.

In the Asian trading today, the Australian dollar fell to 3-day lows of 1.6800 against the euro and 97.17 against the yen, from yesterday's closing quotes of 1.6777 and 97.50, respectively. If the aussie extends its downtrend, it is likely to find support around 1.69 against the euro and 94.00 against the yen.

The aussie dropped to a 3-day low of 0.6457 against the U.S. dollar, from Thursday's closing value of 0.6469. On the downside, 0.62 is seen as the next support level for the aussie.

Against the Canadian dollar, the aussie edged down to 0.8883 from yesterday's closing value of 0.8897. The aussie may test support near the 0.87 region.

The NZ dollar fell to 3-day lows of 1.8243 against the euro abd 89.42 against the yen, from yesterday's closing quotes of 1.8196 and 89.89, respectively. If the kiwi extends its downtrend, it is likely to find support around 1.83 against the euro and 87.00 against the yen.

Against the U.S. and the Australian dollars, the kiwi dropped to 3-day lows of 0.5947 and 1.0860 from Thursday's closing quotes of 0.5965 and 1.0846, respectively. The kiwi is likely to find support near 0.57 against the greenback and 1.09 against the aussie.

Looking ahead, U.K. retail sales data for October and Switzerland industrial production for the third quarter are due to be released in the pre-European session.

In the European session, Eurozone current account data for September and final HICP data for October are slated for release.

At 3:30 am ET, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde is set to speak at 33rd Frankfurt European Banking Congress in Germany.

In the New York session, Canada PPI and raw material prices for October, U.S. building permits and housing starts for October and U.S. Baker Hughes oil rig count data are set to be published.