The USD was trading mixed last week as the oil dependent currencies eased back on lower oil prices while the antipodean currencies gains strongly over the week.

The NZD was the top performing currency as it gained 1.07% last week. This came on top of the 1.37% gain posted the week before.

The CAD was the weakest performing currency. The declines in the CAD came amid weaker fundamentals and lower oil prices. The CAD fell 0.58% last week and marked a second consecutive week of declines. In the week before, the CAD was down 0.65%.

The EUR failed to capitalize as price action was rather flat. The common currency closed last week with modest gains of just 0.31%. Price action however managed to reverse the losses of 0.23% posted om Week 41.

The GBP managed to erase the 0.16% losses logged in week 41. Last week, the pound sterling managed to rise 0.21% on the week, although price action remains rather weak for the moment.

The NOK was another oil dependent currency that posted losses last week. The NOK fell 0.32% partly retracing the strong gains of 1.32% logged in the week before.

The SEK manage to rise for the second week. The currency gained 0.73% on the week and extended gains from 0.72% increase from the week before.

The CHF and the JPY eased back last week. The JPY was down 0.32% while the CHF lost 0.57% indicating that the market’s risk appetite last week was rather moderate.

Market Highlights from last week

Chinese Economy

The latest consumer and producer prices data from China was released last week.

According to official data, China’s headline inflation rate rose 2.5% on an annualized basis for the year ending September 2018.

This was broadly in line with the estimates and consumer prices posted a modest increase from 2.3% in August. Producer prices index on the other hand increased at a slower pace for the third consecutive month.

Producer price index rose 3.6% on an annualized basis for the year ending September 2018. While this was slightly above the median estimates, it was a slower pace of increase for the third month in a row.

Analysts expect that this could be due to the trade wars with the United States.

China’s central bank had recently lowered its reserve requirements ratio for a fourth time this year injecting liquidity into the markets.

The central bank expects the liquidity is needed in order to offset the effects from higher tariffs on imports and exports.

New Zealand Inflation Report

Statistics New Zealand released the quarterly inflation report last week on Tuesday.

According to the official sources, headline inflation rate rose 0.9% on the quarter beating estimates by a strong margin.

Economists polled forecast that New Zealand’s inflation rate would rise just 0.7%.

In the second quarter, CPI advanced 0.4%. On an annualized basis, New Zealand’s inflation rate rose 1.9% which also beat estimates of a 1.7% increase.

The jump in consumer prices came due to higher fuel prices.

Petrol prices rose 5.5% during the quarter ending September.

UK Brexit Negotiation

There was some good news from the UK last week.

Recent economic reports showed that wages in the UK advanced while inflationary pressures eased.

This gives the Bank of England offices room to maneuver through the uncertainty due to the Brexit negotiations.

Official data released by the UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that the unemployment held steady at 4.0% for the third consecutive month.

Meanwhile, wages rose strongly amid shortage of skills.

The UK’s inflation rate eased to an annual pace of 2.4% in September compared to 2.7% in August. Core CPI also fell to 1.9% from 2.1% in August.

FOMC Meeting Minutes

The Federal Reserve released its meeting minutes last week.

As widely expected, the central bank’s minutes did not reveal any new information.

Officials were overall happy with the state of the U.S. economy and expect further rate hikes would be needed to sustain the economy.

The minutes cemented expectations that the Fed is on track to hike interest rates one more time this year in December 2018.

There is also growing certainty that the Fed will hike four more times next year.

Australian Job Data

Australia released its monthly employment figures.

Data showed that the Australian unemployment rate fell to fresh lows at 5.0%.

This beat expectations of an unchanged print to the unemployment rate.

In August, Australia’s unemployment rate was at 5.3%. While the unemployment rate decreased, the number of jobs added were far fewer than anticipated.