The fundamental data was mixed for the Australian dollar today. As a reflection of that, the currency rose against its US peer, but dropped against the Japanese yen.
The Conference Board reported that the Australian leading indicators fell 0.2 percent in November, reversing the 0.2 percent gain in the previous month. Meanwhile, National Australia Bank reported that business confidence jumped sharply to 3 in December, rebounding from the November level of -9, which was the lowest since April 2009. The report explained the improvement:
Better external sentiment (temporary avoidance of the US âfiscal cliffâ), strengthening in Chinese data and lower rates have all helped confidence.
The stock market also supported the Australian currency as the MSCI Asia Pacific Index of shares advanced 0.8 percent.
AUD/USD rose from 1.0415 to 1.0446 as of 11:15 GMT today. At the same time, AUD/JPY edged down from 94.62 to 94.40.
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