Commodity Currencies Rise Amid Risk Appetite

The commodity currencies such as Australia, the New Zealand and the Canadian dollars strengthened against their major currencies in the Asian session on Wednesday amid risk appetite, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, as traders across most markets are picking up stocks at a bargain after the recent strong sell-off amid fears about the world's largest economy slipping into recession.

Crude oil prices settled modestly higher, snapping a four-session losing streak, as the shutdown of Libya's 270,000 barrel per day Sharara oil field offered mild support. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended up $0.26 or 0.36 percent at $73.20 a barrel.

In economic news, the official data showed that China's exports grew less than expected at the start of the third quarter, while imports rebounded on domestic demand. Exports posted an annual growth of 7.0 percent in July, the customs data revealed. This was weaker than the forecast of 9.7 percent and followed an 8.6 percent expansion in June.

On the other hand, imports surged 7.2 percent annually, reversing the 2.3 percent decrease in June and also stronger than consensus of 3.5 percent increase.

As a result, the trade surplus narrowed to $84.65 billion from $99.05 billion in June. The surplus was seen at $97.5 billion.

Meanwhile, the NZ dollar started gaining against its major rivals in the Asian session today, aided by the latest jobs report.

Data from Statistics New Zealand showed that the unemployment rate in New Zealand came in at a seasonally adjusted 4.6 percent in the second quarter of 2024. That beat forecasts for an increase of 4.7 percent and was up from 4,3 percent in the previous three months.

In the Asian trading today, the Australian dollar rose to 9-day high of 0.6565 against the U.S. dollar, from yesterday's closing value of 0.6518. The aussie may test resistance around the 0.67 region.

Against the yen and the euro, the aussie advanced to 5-day highs of 97.08 and 1.6627 from Tuesday's closing quotes of 94.05 and 1.6756, respectively. If the aussie extends its uptrend, it is likely to find resistance around 100.00 against the yen and 1.64 against the euro.

Against the Canada and the New Zealand dollars, the aussie climbed to 2-day highs of 0.9038 and 1.0890 from yesterday's closing quotes of 0.8985 and 1.0947, respectively. The next possible resistance levels for the aussie are seen around 0.91 against the loonie and 1.07 against the kiwi.

The NZ dollar rose to more than a 2-week high of 0.6018 against the U.S. dollar, from yesterday's closing value of 0.5953. On the upside, 0.61 is seen as the next resistance level for the kiwi.

Against the yen and the euro, the kiwi advanced to 5-day highs of 88.98 and 1.8129 from Tuesday's closing quotes of 85.90 and 1.8357, respectively. If the kiwi extends its uptrend, it is likely to find resistance around 93.00 against the yen and 1.77 against the euro.

The Canadian dollar rose to 5-day highs of 1.5021 against the euro and 107.43 against the yen, from yesterday's closing quotes of 1.5067 and 104.67, respectively. If the loonie extends its uptrend, it is likely to find resistance around 1.48 against the euro and 111.00 against the yen.

Against the U.S. dollar, the loonie edged up to 1.3766 from Tuesday's closing value of 1.3785. The loonie may test resistance around the 1.36 region.

Looking ahead, Canada Ivey PMI for July, U.S. MBA weekly mortgage approvals data, used car prices data for July, consumer credit change for July and U.S. EIA crude oil data are slated for release in the New York session.