Pacific Exchange Rates Report for November 17th – 21st

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 November 17^th – November 21^st, all of the pacific currencies rose. All currencies steadily ticked up throughout the week with the Japanese Yen (maroon) leading the pack with a 1.9% increase on the week. The next largest gainer was the South Korean Won (red) which rose just over 1.5% while the New Zealand Dollar (blue) was close by, ending up just under 1.5%. The lowest gainer out of the four currencies was the Australian Dollar (green) which increase about 1.3% on 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 November 17^th – November 21^st, all four of the pacific currencies hit three-month highs at some point during the week. Other than the Japanese Yen (JPY) all of the currencies came back slightly below their three-month highs to end the week, however all of them remain close to those highs. For the Australian Dollar (AUD) it was the first three month high it had hit in a couple months after it had a sharp decline in September.

Additional Reading

Japanese Yen Weekly Forecast: USD/JPY Edges Higher Before Key Japan Data

This article gives a forecast for the upcoming week for the Japanese Yen. With key unemployment, inflation, and wage growth numbers coming out there is a chance of a volatile week for the Japanese currency.