The Japanese yen was the strongest currency last week, rallying over 3.29% across the board. The gains in the yen came about as investors continued to shift bets to the safe haven asset. However, Gold prices did not see much of gains in similar terms. While the BoJ is put in a tight spot on the recent strengthening of the yen, officials fell short of verbally talking down the currency. The Swiss franc also posted some decent gains but mild in comparison to the yen. Oil prices posted a strong rally on Friday erasing the losses from the previous week. This led the Canadian dollar to bounce back strongly as well as economic data on Friday saw a strong jobs report with the Canadian unemployment rate falling to 7.10% from 7.30% previously.

Weekly Spot FX Performance – 08/04/2016 (Source: Finviz.com)

On the weaker side, the Australian dollar lost nearly 1.64% for the week. This came as the RBA initially made mention of the appreciation of the AUD, which started the Aussie’s descent. While the AUDUSD managed to trim the losses and rally back following the dovish FOMC minutes, the risk-off the sentiment on Friday hit the AUD and the Kiwi hard sending both the commodity-linked currencies lower.

Fundamentals for the Week 11/04 – 15/04