Oil bounces as OPEC meets; AUD falls on soft retail sales

The dollar index, was 0.1 per cent lower early on Thursday as focus starts to shift to the release of US non-farm payrolls on Friday.

The weaker dollar helped gold lift 0.2 per cent to $1,214.97 an ounce in the Asian trading session.

USDJPY slid to 109.02 yen.

EURUSD edged up 0.2 per cent today at $1.1211 ahead of the European Central Bank’s policy meeting.

The ECB is not expected to make any changes to monetary policy today, despite data this week showing inflation in May remained sluggish. In March, the ECB cut interest rates further into negative territory and boosted the asset purchase programme. Policymakers are probably still wanting to wait to see the effects of these measures to manifest themselves. ECB Chief Mario Draghi’s press conference will attract attention after the ECB policy announcement.

GBPUSD recovered 0.1 per cent to $1.4423, having taken a hit in recent days after polls showed voters were leaning toward voting the UK out of the European Union at the upcoming June 23 referendum.

AUDUSD fell today to $0.7238 after data today showed Australian retail sales growth slowed in April to 0.2 per cent. That outweighed figures showing the country’s trade deficit narrowed more than expected in April to A$1.579bn.

Oil prices were mixed in Asia ahead of a meeting between OPEC members in Vienna later today. Expectations are low the group will announce any significant cuts to output. Brent crude, the international benchmark, was flat at $49.73 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate, the US marker, was down one-quarter of a percentage point at $48.89.

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