The Australian Dollar’s decline continues, as the ‘Aussie’ tumbled to a fresh two-and-a half year low against the US Dollar.
The Australian currency has been in relative freefall over the past few weeks and today was no exception despite Australian markets being closed for the Queen’s birthday public holiday. The latest fall came after China, Australia’s biggest trading partner posted data showing that its exports plummeted to a 10-month low in May and imports made an unexpected decline.
The data was far worse than economists had been forecasting due to a crackdown on fake trade invoices by the Chinese authorities. The data saw overseas sales grow by just 1% from the previous whereas economists had been expecting growth of 7.4%. The issue of fraudulent invoices now raises the possibility that a number of key Chinese data releases may have been fraudulent.
The other Chinese data released over the weekend also showed a weakening of exports, imports, inflation, bank lending and industrial production.
Also weighing on the Australian Dollar is last week’s better-than-expected jobs data out of the United States. Growing signs that the world’s biggest economy making a strong recovery has seen investors ditch the ‘Aussie’ and other currencies in favour of the ‘Greenback’.
Westpac chief international economist Huw McKay yesterday said global traders wanting to switch exposure from China to the US were selling Australian Dollars and buying Mexican Pesos and Canadian Dollars.
“There’s no reprieve for the Australian Dollar in the latest numbers,” Mr McKay said.
The Australian Dollar has fallen more than 8% in the past month.
Current Australian Dollar (AUD) Exchange Rates
< Lower > Higher
The Australian Dollar/US Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.9420 <
The Australian Dollar/Euro Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.7134 <
The Australian Dollar/Pound Sterling Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.6074
The US Dollar/Australian Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.0614 >
The Euro/Australian Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.4016 >
The Pound Sterling /Australian Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.6462 >
The New Zealand Dollar/Australian Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.8348 <
(Correct as of 09:35am GMT)
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