The Pound Sterling to Australian Dollar (GBP/AUD) exchange rate is seeing fairly narrow movement this morning. Investors are finding both currencies more appealing, amid optimism over UK and Australian coronavirus vaccine plans.
The Australian Dollar’s appeal as a risk and trade-currency has strengthened following reports that Australia’s vaccine rollout will begin soon. This is helping the ‘Aussie’ to hold against Pound strength.
Last Week: Both Currencies Overcome a Bearish Period
At the beginning of last week, the Australian Dollar was being weighed by market uncertainty over a surprisingly dovish Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA). Then the Pound was weighed by concerns over new coronavirus strains and fresh UK-EU post-Brexit trade tensions.
However, both currencies were on the up again by the end of the week.
Britain continued to ramp up its coronavirus vaccinations and UK data was better than expected. Australian data has also been fairly strong and the risk and trade-correlated ‘Aussie’ was supported by market sentiment as well.
Three Things to Watch For This Week:
- RBA Meeting Minutes
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) will publish its latest meeting minutes report tomorrow. If the bank shows more dovishness following its surprise quantitative easing (QE) expansion at the decision, the Australian Dollar could weaken.
- Australian Job Market Report
Thursday will see the publication of Australia’s January job market report. As a key indicator of Australia’s economic health, this data could be hugely influential for AUD if it surprises.
- UK Retail Sales Results
Britain’s January retail sales stats are due on Friday. These will give investors a better idea of how Britain’s key services sectors performed at the start of the third national lockdown last month.
GBP/AUD Outlook
There is plenty of UK and Australian data due for publication this week, also including February PMI projections, and potential coronavirus vaccine developments will also be closely watched by Pound to Australian Dollar exchange rate investors.