The Australian dollar surged today after comments of central bank chief Glenn Stevens bolstered optimism for Australia’s economy. The Aussie reached the highest level this year against major currencies, including the US dollar, the euro and the Japanese yen.
Stevens was speaking today at the 17th Annual Credit Suisse Asian Investment Conference in Hong Kong. He said:
So there is encouraging early evidence that the so-called âhandoverâ from mining-led demand growth to broader private demand growth is beginning. Putting all this together, we think economic growth will continue, and may strengthen a little later this year and pick up further during 2015.
The Reserve Bank of Australia Governor added that weakness of the Aussie was helping:
The lower exchange rate since last April and the improved economic conditions overseas also help.
The comments also mentioned some risks to the optimistic outlook, including the exchange rate. Yet market participants considered the speech to be mostly hawkish and it was well-received by Aussie bulls.
AUD/USD jumped from 0.9164 to 0.9243 and AUD/JPY soared from 93.70 to 94.65 as of 12:44 GMT today. EUR/AUD sank from 1.5083 to 1.4921.
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