The Australian and New Zealand currencies rose today as expansion of China’s manufacturing sector beat forecasts, resulting in risk appetite and demand for growth-related currencies. The currencies lost some of their gains by now.
China’s manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index was at 50.4 in November, unchanged from the October value, while economists predicted a drop to 50.2. The HSBC China Manufacturing PMI was also little changed at 50.8, exceeding analysts’ expectations and the preliminary figure. China is a major trading partner of both Australia and New Zealand, meaning that economic growth of the Asian nation is important for the South Pacific economies.
AUD/USD was up from 0.9125 to 0.9137 as of 11:43 GMT today after rising to 0.9167. NZD/USD rose from 0.8152 to 0.8188, but retreated from the intraday high of 0.8222.
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