The Australian dollar opened sharply lower today due to worse-than-expected economic data from China released over the weekend. While the currency bounced from daily lows, it is still far below the Friday’s closing rate.
Several reports from China were released over the weekend, and they all were disappointing. Among them was industrial production data that showed annual growth of 6.9 percent in August, which was slower than July’s 9.0 percent and the predicted increase by 8.8 percent. China is the major destination for Australian exports. Fundamentals in Australia itself were not helpful for the Aussie either as motor vehicle sales fell 1.8 percent last month.
AUD/USD traded near the opening level of 0.9007 as of 9:45 GMT today after closing at 0.9042 on Friday and falling to 0.8984 (the lowest rate since March 12) during the current trading session. AUD/JPY ticked up from 96.55 to 96.62 after closing at 96.93 last week.
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