The Australian dollar was weak today, falling against all other most-traded currencies. That is despite domestic macroeconomic data that beat expectations.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that retails sales rose by 1.4% in October from September on a seasonally adjusted basis. While the reading was slightly lower compared with the preliminary estimate of a 1.6% increase, it was substantially better than the median forecast that has promised a gain of just 0.5%. The increase followed a drop of 1.1% in the preceding month. Compared with October 2019, the sales rose by 7.1%.
Some experts said that the recent string of positive macroeconomic reports made it all but certain that the Reserve Bank of Australia will not cut its interest rates more. That is very good news for the Australian currency as lower rates would make it less attractive for investors.
Despite the positive fundamentals, the Aussie did not fare well during Friday’s trading session. Market analysts named US nonfarm payrolls as one of the possible reasons for the currency’s underperformance. Traders seem to be focused on the upcoming employment data in the United States and are reluctant to risk ahead of a major release.
AUD/USD fell from 0.7441 to 0.7422 as of 11:10 GMT today. EUR/AUD rallied from 1.6322 to 1.6398. AUD/JPY was at 77.17, near its opening level of 77.21.
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