The Australian Dollar has tumbled further against the Pound and the bulk of its most traded peers after the struggling currency was weakened by a resurgent US Dollar, weak local inflation, and a bleak government budget forecast.
The US Dollar has strengthened against the majority of its peers after US jobless claims dropped to their lowest level in six years and an Institute for Supply Management manufacturing report for July came in stronger than expected. The currency is expected to make further gains later on Friday as investors wait for the latest unemployment data. Against the US currency the ‘Aussie’ is trading close to a three-year low.
In local data the ‘Aussie’ was weakened after the Australian Bureau of Statistics released the latest Producer Price Index (PPI) for the second quarter of the year. It rose by just 0.1%, lower than the 0.3% expected by economists.
“The Aussie Dollar has just been on the back foot all day while the US Dollar has been stronger, The PPI data that we received did actually pressure the currency lower and the revision of the budget forecast and the revenue shortfall did weigh on sentiment” said ANZ foreign exchange strategist Andrew Salter.
Also weighing upon the currency was the Australian governments warning that the country’s economy is expected to grow at a slower than expected pace thanks to shrinking tax revenues, increasing unemployment and a cooling of the mining sector boom.
The world’s 12th largest economy is now expected to expand by 2.5% in the current fiscal year through June 2014, below the 2.75% level the government had forecast as recently as May. Unemployment is expected to rise to 6.25% this fiscal year compared with the 5.75% originally forecast. It stood at 5.7% in June.
Current Exchange Australian Dollar (AUD) Rates
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The Australian Dollar/US Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.8895 <
The Australian Dollar/Euro Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.6729 <
The Australian Dollar/Pound Sterling Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.5870 <
The Australian Dollar/ New Zealand Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.1309 >
The US Dollar/Australian Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.1242 >
The Euro/Australian Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.4859 >
The Pound Sterling /Australian Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.7035 >
The New Zealand Dollar/Australian Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.8842 <
Correct as of 11:00 am GMT
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