Pacific Exchange Rates Report for October 13th – 17th

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 October 13^th – October 17^th, the Australian Dollar (green), the New Zealand Dollar (blue), and the South Korean Won (red) all rose to start the week. The Australian Dollar ended up rising the most for the week, ending 1% stronger. The New Zealand Dollar pulled back a bit from its midweek highs and ended up around .4% stronger, while the South Korean Won erased all of its gains from earlier in the week and ended the week neutral. The Japanese Yen (maroon) performed worse than all other currencies for the entire week, ending ~1.4% weaker.

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 October 13^th – October 17^th, the Pacific currencies have mostly flattened after their sharp increases in the past weeks. The Japanese Yen (JPY) and the South Korean Won (KRW) both gave back some of their gains from past weeks. However, both currencies remain at a higher level than they have been in past months. The Australian Dollar (AUD) and the New Zealand Dollar (NZD) both flattened out, staying around the highs they had for last week.

Additional Reading

USD/JPY claws back early losses and rebounds to near 150.20 as US Dollar recovers

With US-China trade tensions becoming global headlines, the Japanese Yen has experienced increased demand in the past weeks as a safe haven. The USD has also experienced a difficult past two weeks after the US Dollar Index hit a 10-day low in the most recent trading period.