The Australian dollar fell today along with other commodity-related currencies despite relatively positive economic data from Australia. The most likely reason for the sluggish performance was concern about slowdown of the global economy.
Released today, Melbourne Institute Inflation Expectations remained unchanged at 3.6 percent. The Westpac Consumer Sentiment Index released yesterday demonstrated an increase of 4.2 percent in February following the 3.5 percent drop in January. Yet positive fundamentals gave little support to the Aussie as signs of slowing growth in China, Australia’s biggest trading partner, and slump of global stocks made investors reluctant to buy currencies linked to growth and raw materials.
AUD/USD declined from 0.7095 to 0.7010 as of 9:27 GMT today. AUD/JPY tumbled 3.1 percent from 80.39 to 77.89, trading near the lowest level since June 2012.
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