FOREX RESOURCES
When a resource forms an important part of a countries imports or exports it directly affects the price of those countries forex reserves and therefore the value of their currencies.
The Australian Dollar (AUD) is largely buoyed by strong gold prices as gold is one of the country’s top Forex earners. The price of Gold is largely correlated with the price of the currency in the forex market because the country is in such stable economic shape. Other countries with volatile or emerging economies have too many other factors to consider nullifying the price of gold to directly affect their currencies in the forex market. A good example of this is some of the African currencies such as the South African Rand(ZAR) which has high levels of gold and platinum exports but the forex price does not seem to correlate with either resource.
Oil is another important commodity in the forex market because almost all industrialised countries require it in large amounts to keep there economies running. Countries like Japan import almost all of their oil. The high oil prices depletes their Forex reserves and causes its currency to devalue. On the other end of the spectrum Canada has large oil reserves with more reserves becoming viable as the oil price increases therefore increasing their forex income. This makes oil a good forex earner for Canada. The CND/JPY is a good trade to follow oil prices.