The Australian dollar demonstrated small losses during the current trading session after economic data showed slowing growth in China, Australia’s biggest trading partner. Trading was more quiet than usual today as US markets are closed for a holiday.
The National Bureau of Statistics of China reported that gross domestic product grew 6.4% in the fourth quarter of 2018, year-on-year, slowing from the 6.5% rate of growth in the third quarter. It was the slowest growth since 2009. Furthermore, the growth for the whole year was at 6.6% — the slowest since 1990. Yet markets were not particularly bothered by it as such figures were within expectations. Additionally, the report said that there is signs of stabilization in the economy.
Other indicators were also within expectations, with the exception of industrial production, which rose 5.7% in December — a noticeably faster pace of growth than 5.3% predicted by economists and 5.4% logged in the previous month. Retail sales increased 8.2%. Fixed asset investment increased by 5.9% over the past year. The unemployment rate was at 4.9% in December, a bit higher than November’s reading of 4.8%.
AUD/USD slipped from 0.7165 to 0.7158 as of 11:23 GMT today after rising to the daily high of 0.7182 earlier. EUR/AUD gained from 1.5851 to 1.5888. AUD/JPY inched down from 78.59 to 78.45.
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