Pacific Exchange Rates Report for March 9th – 13th

By: Patrick Gorman, The Quinnipiac University Global Economics Research Team

Pacific Currencies Index

Source: Eurostat and own calculations. Exchange rates are inverted to be USD per local currency (i.e., an increase indicates a stronger domestic currency) and then indexed to be 100 at the start of the period.

For the week of March 9^th – March 13^th, all currencies strengthened other than the Australian Dollar (green). The Australian Dollar weakened about .5% over the past week, with a rebound later in the week avoiding a much larger weakening. The Korean Won (red) and New Zealand Dollar (blue) tracked similar paths throughout the week, with an early weakening followed by a strengthening that put them about .7% and .5% stronger than they started the week. Finally the Japanese Yen (maroon) strengthened for most of the week ending up about .9% stronger than it started the week.

Pacific Historical Trends

Source: Eurostat and own calculations. Exchange rates are inverted to be USD per local currency (i.e., an increase indicates a stronger domestic currency. The center line is a rolling three-month average. The upper and lower boundaries are the average plus and average minus one standard deviation, respectively, for the same three-month period.

For the week of March 9^th – March 13^th, the Japanese Yen (JPY) and the South Korean Won (KRW) both pushed to three-month highs. The Australian Dollar (AUD) stayed around the same levels that it has been in since early February. The New Zealand Dollar (NZD) has started to push up from its lower levels that it reached in early February and it is now closer to its late January levels.