Greek Banks Reopen, Gold and Aud Decline

Greek banks reopen today for the first time since being closed on June 29. The central bank said in a statement made available to reporters that capital controls stay in place, 60 euro per day and 420 euro per week until the outcome of ECB and IMF parliaments vote is known. The country is expected to pay 4.2 billion euros ($4.5 billion) to ECB today as part of its loan repayment plans.

According to Ken Wattret, an economist at BNP Paribas SA in London “the issue of repayment is imperative because failure to do that would question Greece’s commitment to the austerity measures and subsequently daunt the whole bailout process”. Greece has refused to make any payments for the past 5 months.

ECB said Greece has reached the deadline they can’t afford to miss, as the realization dawned that Greece was facing a painful exit from the monetary union, the government has stepped back to look into possible consequences of their decision and its implication on the Greece people.

Mario Draghi, ECB president persuaded his Governing Council to increase the emergency liquidity assistant on Thursday. Draghi said he is confident ECB would get its money back on its Greek bonds, and that the idea that Greece will default is off the table.

Haratsis, a stockbroker in Greece, said the stock market should be reopened later in the week. German Chancellor Angela Markel reiterated that since Greece wish to remain inside the euro, rule out writing off 30 to 40 percent of its debt since it violates European law.

Currencies

The Australian dollar reached 7 years low against the US dollar in the early Asia session ahead of the monetary policy meeting due later in the day, the currency dropped to 0.73266, the price level that was last seen during the 2008 economic recession. The consumer price index (CPI) that measures Change in the price of goods and services purchased by consumers is due to be released later tomorrow. Reserve Bank of Australia Governor, Glenn Stevens is expected to speak on the situation of the economy.

New Zealand Kiwi gained back part of last week’s losses and seem to establish a double bottom candlestick on the weekly chart, support is established at 0.64970 (NZDUSD), a strong 6 years low of July 2009. The direction of the currency would be determined later in the week when the Official Cash Rate and RBNZ Rate Statement would be released.

Gold /Crude Oil

Gold drop further to an alarming 5 years low of 1071.28, Chinese government continue to buy gold and has purchased 604 tons since 2009. Crude oil currently trading at $51.10 per barrel, pulling back from last week low of $50.11