By: Barbara Zigah
Buoyed by better than expected jobs data and firmed commodity prices, the Australian Dollar reached a new 15-month high versus the U.S. currency in Asian trading today. As reported at 3:12 pm (JST) in Tokyo, the Australian Dollar reached its highest price since late August 2008, trading at $0.9370 before settling back to $0.9333. For the month of October, Australia added 24,500 workers to the country’s job force, significantly higher than the 10,000 decline in jobs that analysts had been predicting. These positive numbers set the stage for another round of talks of a possible increase in key interest rates by the Australian Reserve Bank at their meeting next month.
This week, a gathering of Asia-Pacific finance ministers in Singapore put the U.S. Dollar under further selling pressure; it’s expected that there will be a call for more flexible, “market-oriented” exchange rates. Market players are keen to find out what action, if any, China would take regarding its own currency, the Yuan, which is not being allowed to appreciate. Dealers expect that China may consider using a group of currencies to guide the exchange rate, and not rely solely on the U.S. Dollar. The Chinese Yuan has not appreciated in more than 18 months.
Australian Dollar Establishes 15-month High on Positive Data
After working on Wall Street, Barb began her second career as a freelance writer at Daily Forex, where the CEO recognized fresh, untapped potential and was willing to give her a try. She’s never looked back. Since then, she’s worked steadily as a freelance writer and editor in the financial services and Forex-related industry.