Tag Archives: Australian dollar

Australian Dollar and Training Mats

The Aussie Dollar fell against all the majors yesterday. At one stage it was 1.7% down against the USD, at a two week low, but recovered to close just 0.4% lower. The lower dollar is driving up the pricing of everything including training mats. The price of both EVA interlocking jigsaw mats and tatami mats could rise in the future.

Currently pricing for jigsaw mats and tatami mats is steady due to suppliers like Ezy Mats weathering the lower currency. Such diligence has keep the price of gym mats and MMA mats steady. The price of jigsaw mats and tatami mats are still price well with Ezymats supplying the mats at up to 50% less then other suppliers.

Market Watch

The ASX closed the last session of the week down 0.29% at 5460.8 finishing the week almost unchanged with a small rise of 0.05%. The drop was attributed to lower than expected CPI data in China sending worries through the local markets. Further downside pressure came from speculation of what this week’s budget may hold for companies and consumer spending if the toughest budget in decades is delivered as expected.

Overseas we saw the European index’s closely follow APAC’s lead with the majors all closing down around the 0.30% mark while the US session managed to reverse this with the Dow Jones and Nasdaq finishing the week 0.20% and 0.50% respectively.

Gold had its second consecutive weekly fall closing at US$1288.70/oz as investors start to feel more confident in the equity and treasury market on the back of Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen’s testimony earlier in the week.

WTI Crude Oil also finished the day down 0.27% at US$99.99 per barrel as tensions in the Ukraine eased but we expect to see further volatility during this week’s sessions after further parts of Eastern Ukraine voted for independence from Kiev in a referendum slammed by the West.

The Australian Dollar finished the week higher against most majors. This was due to the better than expected employment figures, now boosting confidence around a sustained jobs market recovery. Also the Strong Chinese trade report help push the Aussie higher. The RBA also released its quarterly monetary policy statement on Friday suggesting that interest rates will remain on hold for the foreseeable future.

Soft inflations figure to keep jigsaw mats stable

The soft inflation figures release today should keep the price of jigsaw mats stable.

Consumer prices were softer-than-expected in the first three months of this year, lowering expectations that an interest rate hike could be on the cards later this year.

The headline inflation for the first-quarter of this year rose by 0.6 per cent to take the annual rate to 2.9 per cent. The figures were lower than analysts’ consensus forecasts and keeps the annual growth in inflation within the Reserve Bank’s target band of 2 to 3 per cent.

Although expectation that interest rates would be stable pushed the dollar down, it wasn’t by so much that it could push up the price of imported goods. With jigsaw mats being manufactured overseas this is a good sign.

Strong Australian dollar keeps Jigsaw mats cheaper

The recent improvement in the rate of the Australian dollar against the US dollar will work to keep jigsaw mat prices lower. As jigsaw mats are manufactured in and imported from China they are priced in USD. Any appreciation in the AUD therefore has a favourable effect on pricing.

Despite the recent and surprising run back higher for the AUD, HSBC’s chief economist came out late Friday afternoon with a statement saying that ‘Despite an improving domestic picture and unwarranted concern over a China hard landing, in our view, we still continue to see AUD-USD lower as the year progresses targeting 0.86 by the end of 2014’.

As such lower prices may not be sustained over the longer run. This makes purchasing EVA jigsaw mats now the wise thing to do. Especially considering that the AUD has been very strong recently which may not persist much longer.