Forex Focus is brought to you by IG Markets - Forex Trading
HISTORICAL DETAILS
% Change
1 Wk -1.12%
1 Month -1.12%
3 Months 1.82%
6 Months 8.70%
1 Year 9.75%
52 WEEK
High 1.0256
Low 0.8067
BLOOMBERG MEDIAN FORECASTS
Q1 2011 1.00
Q2 2011 1.01
Q3 2011 1.01
Q4 2011 0.98
DAILY DETAIL
The Aussie dollar was trading lower against the US dollar this morning on a combination of Australian employment data, China’s trade balance and risk aversion stemming from Europe. Employment data released in Australia initially caused a dip in the currency as the headline number showed a net drop of 10,100 jobs, but the decline was short-lived as the drop was due to a 57,700 decline in part-time jobs while more important full-time roles increased by 47,600. The report also showed aggregate monthly hours worked increased by 17.9 million hours, which suggests economic conditions in Australia remain robust. The major knock to the Aussie dollar came when China’s trade balance swung to a surprise deficit of $7.3 billion in February, from a surplus of $6.45 billion the prior month. The overall level of exports and imports both rose by less than expected, which hurt the Aussie dollar as China is Australia’s main trading partner. Exports rose by a meagre 2.4% on the month when economists were expecting a 27.1% increase. Furthermore, imports rose 19.4%, far less than the 32.6% that was predicted. As China is a net exporter, the tepid increase in exports suggests demand for its products weakened significantly, which could be an indication of weakness in the global economy. The final blow to the Aussie dollar came when S&P downgraded Spain’s sovereign debt rating one notch to Aa2 citing concerns that the country won’t be able to handle the costs associated with restructuring the banking system. This left investors with little appetite for holding riskier assets this morning. David Choe, London
No comments:
Post a Comment