Aussie Opens Sharply Lower amid Risk Aversion, Poor Data

The Australian dollar, like other currencies considered to be relatively risky, opened sharply lower today amid the risk-adverse market sentiment. Poor domestic macroeconomic data did not help the currency either.

Australian company gross operating profits fell 4.5% in the June quarter from the previous three months on a seasonally adjusted basis, exceeding the drop by 3.9% predicted by analysts. What is more, the first quarter’s increase was revised from 6.0% to 5.8%. That was not helpful to the Aussie, though the news about another nuclear test by North Korea was likely the most important contributor to the currency’s weakness.

AUD/USD closed at 0.7967 on Friday, opened at 0.7946 today, and traded near 0.7950 as of 12:50 GMT today. AUD/JPY was at 87.20 after ending the previous session at 87.37 and starting the current session at 87.03.

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