The Australian dollar opened sharply lower today compared to the Friday’s close as China’s trade data, which was released over the weekend, showed an unexpected trade deficit, reinvigorating fears about slowdown of China’s economic growth. As of now, the currency trades flat against the US dollar and bounced versus the Japanese yen.
China’s trade balance demonstrated a deficit of $23.0 billion in February, while analysts anticipated a surplus of $13.2 billion. It was the biggest deficit in two years. The report was not completely bad as it showed an increase of imports, improving prospects for Australian goods, most of which goes to China.
AUD/USD traded at about 0.9033 as of 10:37 GMT after closing at 0.9067 on Friday and opening at 0.9035 today. AUD/JPY advanced from 93.08 to 93.32, but was still below the last week’s close of 93.66.
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