As unemployment surged in the South Pacific nation of Australia, speculations that interest rates will be hiked before the end of the year decreased, making the Aussie to post its first decline this week versus most of the main traded currencies.
Today a report in Australia indicated job losses that came at almost a double rate than what forecasts expected, influencing the South Pacific currency further down after negative reports yesterday that made the currency to drop from a one-year high versus the greenback, as retail sales and home loan approvals declined in the country. Even if several negative news stopped the Aussie’s rally this week, it still remains the best performing currency among the 16 most traded, followed by the Brazilian real in second and its counterpart, the New Zealand dollar, that was also affected by a bearish market sentiment today towards the South Pacific region.
After this week’s negative data for the Aussie, analysts have reached a consensus that interest rates in Australia are unlikely to be hiked before December, fact which is weighing on the Australian currency performance this Thursday, adding to the already pessimist wave of negative reports that unexpectedly downgraded the outlook for South Pacific currencies.
AUD/USD traded at 0.8558 as of 10:37 GMT from 0.8617 in the intraday comparison. AUD/CAD traded at 0.9288 from 0.9312.
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