Australian dollar to sit tight

Financial and commodity markets analytics

The Australian dollar continues to trade in a tight range today ahead a raft of economic data due for release next week.

At 4pm (GMT) the Aussie dollar was trading at US70.01c down from US70.21c in Friday’s close.

Local data due out this week including housing numbers, and retail sales figures are unlikely to have much of an effect on the Australian dollar, as all eyes will be on data out of the US. The main focus of the week will be the unemployment rate as well as the latest Non-farm payrolls figure due out of America on Friday.

Federal Reserve Bank chairman Janet Yellen noted  in a speech after last week’s interest rate decision that the central bank would like to see global growth to remain steady as well as an improvement in the jobs market before they lift rates.

The Aussie dollar is likely to stay within a tight range before being sold off towards the end of the week and especially if the employment numbers from the US come in above expectations which will see traders place their bets for an interest rate hike next month.