The Australian Dollar exchange rate weakened Thursday as North Korea threatened to target the United States with Nuclear weapons, as the communist nation hit back at US led plans to impose further sanctions on the country.
“We are not disguising the fact that the various satellites and long-range rockets that we will fire and the high-level nuclear test we will carry out are targeted at the United States,” North Korea’s National Defence Commission said, according to state news agency KCNA.
Worryingly China normally thought of as being a strong influence, and a check on North Korea has been exposed of having limited influence over their ally. “After all these years and numerous rounds of six-party talks we can see that China’s influence over North Korea is actually very limited. All China can do is try to persuade them not to carry out their threats,” said Cai Jian, an expert on Korea at Fudan University in Shanghai.
As a result of the threat, uncertainty has crept into the Asian markets, already unnerved by growing tensions between China and several of its neighbours. Risk sentiment fell as investors looked to the safe-haven of the US Dollar.
The ‘Aussie’ was also weakened due to the announcement from the International Monetary Fund that it has downgraded its global growth forecast. The currency did receive a slight boost early in trading after the nation’s biggest trade partner, China, posted higher-than-expected PMI data. Today’s PMI rose to a two-year high of 51.9 from December’s 51.5. The data however, was not enough to counter the concerns over the stability of the region.
The Australian Dollar to Euro exchange rate is currently trading at 0.7877
The Australian Dollar to Pound exchange rate is currently trading at 0.6634
The Australian Dollar to US Dollar exchange rate is currently trading at 1.0500
The Pound to Australian Dollar exchange rate is currently trading at 1.5078
The Euro to Australian Dollar exchange rate is currently trading at 1.2696
The US Dollar to Australian Dollar exchange rate is currently trading at 0.9516
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