The Australian dollar was trading strong at the beginning of the Thursday’s trading session, though it has retreated by now. The rally was a result of positive macroeconomic data in China — Australia’s biggest trading partner.
China’s trade balance demonstrated a surplus of $39.16 billion in January, down from $57.06 billion in December but exceeding the average forecast of $33.5 billion excess. Diving deeper into the report, its components were much better than analysts had expected. Exports rose 9.1%, year-on-year, instead of falling 3.2% as economists had forecast. Imports fell 1.5%, much less than was expected — 10%.
As for data in Australia itself, the Melbourne Institute inflation expectations advanced from 3.5% to 3.7% in February. There will be no more economic reports in Australia this week.
AUD/USD traded at 0.7093 as of 16:03 GMT today after opening at 0.7086 and rising to the daily high of 0.7131. EUR/AUD edged up from 1.5877 to 1.5896. AUD/JPY retreated from the open of 78.67 to 78.49 following the earlier rally to 79.24.
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