From Australia, yesterday, NAB Business Confidence figures were released. Australia's December business conditions came in at 7 vs 10, while confidence stood at 3 vs 5, with NAB noting that business confidence remains resilient to financial market turmoil (for now), while business conditions suggest non-mining recovery remains on track. According to NAB Group Chief Economist Alan Oster: “While recent big declines in oil and equity markets highlight potential risks to the global outlook, relatively positive business conditions appear to have, so far, acted to reassure business sentiment”.
Aussie still quite depends on commodity prices. Gold closed a volatile week at 1098.10 as it spent the week wrestling with the all-important $1100 price but seemed unable to hold above as the bears continue to dominate the marketplace. As expected yesterday morning in the Asian session gold is trading at 1101.00 adding $4.70 as the US dollar eased. There is no Chinese data on the calendar this week, so volatility will be centered elsewhere. Silver added an additional 48 points to trade at 14.105 this morning.
There will be no data releases from Australia tomorrow, so we can expect another steadier session. In the US session CB Consumer Confidence figures will be published. Analysts are predicting no significant change.
Figures to watch:
CB Consumer Confidence (Tuesday 16:00)