Commodity Currencies Rise As Oil Prices Rebound

The commodity currencies such as Australia, New Zealand and Canadian dollars strengthened against their major counterparts in the Asian session on Monday amid a rally in oil prices.

Crude oil for February delivery is currently up $0.77 to $57.90 a barrel.

Saudi Petroleum Minister Ali Naimi said on Sunday at a conference in Abu Dhabi that oil market would recover with the improvement of the global economy and fossil fuel will remain the main source of energy for decades to come.

Qatar's energy minister, Mohammed Al Sada, called on crude producers, excluded from OPEC, to cut their "irresponsible" output on the sidelines of the conference.

Oil prices found support after an official report from the Energy Information Administration released on last week showed that U.S. stockpiles to have declined less than expected.

Meanwhile, the NZ dollar fell earlier as the nation's consumer confidence declined to 114.8 in the fourth quarter of 2014, from 116.7 in the third quarter. This marked the lowest reading in over a year.

Last Friday, the NZ dollar rose 0.37 percent against the U.S. dollar, 0.64 percent against the yen and 0.15 percent against the euro. The Australian dollar rose 0.18 percent against the yen. The Canadian dollar rose 0.21 percent against the U.S. dollar, 0.26 percent against the euro and 0.42 percent against the yen.

In the Asian trading today, the Australian dollar rose to a 4-day high of 1.4983 against the Euro, from an early low of 1.5039. If the aussie extends its uptrend, it is likely to find resistance around the 1.48 area.

Against the U.S. dollar and the yen, the aussie edged up to 0.8171 and 97.62 from early lows of 0.8131 and 97.08, respectively. On the upside, 0.82 against the greenback and 99.00 against the yen are seen as the next support levels for the aussie.

The NZ dollar recovered to 0.7754 against the U.S. dollar, from an early 4-day low of 0.7713 hit in the Asian session today. The kiwi is likely to find resistance near the 0.78 region.

Moving away from early 4-day lows of 92.07 against the yen and 1.5844 against the euro, the kiwi appreciated to 92.60 and 1.5787, respectively. The kiwi may test resistance near 93.75 against the yen and 1.56 against the euro.

The Canadian dollar rose to 1.1589 against the U.S. dollar, from an early low of 1.1614 hit in the Asian session today. Continuation of bullish trend may lead the loonie to a resistance around the 1.14 mark.

Against the yen and the euro, the loonie edged up to 103.11 and 1.4185 from early lows of 102.76 and 1.4213, respectively. If the loonie extends gain, it may find resistance around 104.75 against the yen and 1.40 against the euro.

Looking ahead, Eurozone flash consumer sentiment index for December and U.S. existing home sales data for November are due to be released in the New York session.