The Australian dollar attempted to rally today as markets were digesting the news about escalation of the trade war between the United States and China. By now, though, the currency has lost most of its gains and is trading near the opening level.
Domestic macroeconomic data was unhelpful to the Aussie. The WestpacâMelbourne Institute Leading Index fell 0.2% in May after rising at the same rate in April. The report said:
The Leading Index points to slowing growth over the second half of 2018. The May update is the weakest since September last year and while the index growth rate still indicates that momentum is running slightly above trend, there has been a clear shift lower in the first half of 2018.
AUD/USD traded at 0.7376 as of 13:51 GMT after opening at 0.7372 and rallying to the daily high of 0.7409. EUR/AUD was at about 1.5694 following the drop from 1.5691 to 1.5617.
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