Pacific Exchange Rates Report for October 6th - 10th

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 6^th – October 10^th, Pacific exchange rates showed strong gains against the US dollar. The South Korean Won (red), the New Zealand Dollar (blue), and the Australian Dollar (green) all performed very similarly during the week. At the start of the week all these currencies were very flat, staying between 0% and 0.5% gain. They each steadily increased in the second half of the week, and all ended the week around 1% stronger. The Japanese Yen (maroon) outperformed all other Pacific currencies throughout the entire week. The Japanese Yen ended the week 3.5% stronger.

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.

During the start of October all the Pacific currencies have sharply strengthened relative to the United States dollar. Although the Japanese Yen (JPY) did pull back a bit in the last couple days, it still has greatly increased since the start of October. Since the start of October, the South Korean Won (KRW) and the New Zealand Dollar (NZD) both reached 3-month highs. The Australian Dollar (AUD) has also increased from the start of October; however it is not at 3-month highs.

Additional Reading

Japanese Yen Technical Forecast: USD/JPY Short-term Trade Levels

This Forex article talks about how after 6 straight positive sessions, the Japanese Yen has found itself into a key uptrend resistance zone. According to the article the next couple of trading days will be very important for the Yen in determining if it will stall out or break through the resistance levels and extend gains.