The Australian Dollar continued its upward momentum on Wednesday, pushing to its highest level in four-months against the US Dollar and Pound Sterling as RBA Governor Glenn Stevens delivered an upbeat speech on the Australian economy.
The ‘Aussie’ rallied against the majority of its most traded peers after Mr Stevens told a press conference in Hong Kong that he felt encouraged by the Australian economy’s performance and that he was pleased with the way it has recovered from the slowdown of the nation’s mining sector. This left the AUD to USD exchange rate around 0.9220 while the AUD to GBP exchange rate strengthened to 0.5577.
Steven’s also said that he expects there to be a housing boom in the nation but recognised the risks that come with such a surge. Aiding the currency also was his comments that suggested that the RBA was no longer as concerned over the strength of the currency’s strength as previously.
“Happily enough the currency is now well down off its peak. From here it really depends on what you think the fundamentals will do. Our assumption is that the terms of trade will fall further. We think commodity prices will be softer than where they have been in the recent past. It will be quite a surprise, if that comes to pass, if the Australian Dollar doesn’t depreciate along with that,” said Stevens.
He also added that the lower exchange rate was supporting the handover from the focus on mining to the rest of the economy.
The Australian Dollar was also higher against the Euro and was pushing close to a five-month high.
Australian Dollar (AUD) Exchange Rates
[table width=”100%” colwidth=”50|50|50|50|50″ colalign=”left|left|left|left|left”]
Currency, ,Currency,Rate ,
Australian Dollar,
,US Dollar,0.9220 ,
Australian Dollar,, Pound Sterling,0.5577 ,
Australian Dollar,,Euro,0.6685 ,
Australian Dollar,,New Zealand Dollar,1.0705 ,
[/table]
Comments are closed.