The Australian dollar fell for the second day against its US counterpart and declined against the Japanese yen as Australia’s retail sales unexpectedly fell in December, adding to signs of economic weakness of the South Pacific country.
Retail sales were down 0.3 percent in December on a seasonally adjusted basis, falling at the same rate as in November. Growth by 0.3 percent was anticipated by analysts. Yesterday, the Australian currency was falling as the Reserve Bank of Australia left interest rates unchanged, but hinted that an interest rate cut is likely. The Aussie remains the weakest commodity currency compared to its Canadian and New Zealand peers.
AUD/USD slumped from 1.0387 to 1.0300 (the weakest settlement since October 24) and AUD/JPY dropped from 97.26 to 96.51 as of 10:51 GMT today.
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