Australian dollar has been trading choppily today, but right now the Down Under currency is making some progress as general risk appetite returns to the currency market. Right now, Forex traders are looking for yields as better economic data takes center stage. Aussie has overcome earlier losses to trade high against most major currencies.
Yesterday, risk appetite was disappointed with Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke‘s comments indicating that further quantitative easing isn’t in the immediate future. The news provided a bit of a damper for the Australian dollar earlier, but since then things have improved.
Better economic data in Australia, including positive domestic capital expenditure data, is helping the Aussie. Also helping is a return to risk appetite on expectations of the US economic recovery picking up steam. Australian dollar is also getting a boost from recent PMI data out of China. There are hopes that China will soon be looking for imports, and Australia is one of China’s main trading partners.
With gold prices on the rise to provide Aussie support, and with a feeling of optimism pervading the markets right now, the Australian dollar is likely to do reasonably well — for a little while at least.
At 15:36 GMT AUD/USD is higher at 1.0786, up from the open at 1.0743. EUR/AUD is down to 1.2345, down from the open at 1.2409. GBP/AUD is down to 1.4798 from the open at 1.4814.
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