The Aussie Dollar was the major loser in the FX markets today after the latest global economic data indicated that growth was still a problem for the second largest economy in the world. China’s inflation inputs, both CPI and Producer Prices, disappointed in January. CPI fell to 1.8% against expectations of a rise to 1.9% while Producer Prices remained in negative territory at -5.3%, only slightly better than the -5.4% expected. That data put pressure on commodity-linked currencies generally, but especially the Australian Dollar. China is Australia’s key trading partner and growth in China has direct relevance to growth in Australia.
As reported at 11:00 am (GMT) in London, the AUD/USD was trading lower at $0.7161, a fall of 0.20%; the pair had earlier hit a session trough at $0.7134. The NZD/USD was also lower at $0.6631, down 0.06%; the pair’s daily trading range is a relatively narrow band with $0.6618 at the low end and $0.6669 at the high end.
Aussie Jobs Figures Disappoint
Also keeping the Aussie under pressure was the unexpectedly poor results in jobs data with the unemployment rate rising to 6.0% from 5.8% and the employment changes falling further to -7.9K against expectations of a rise to 15.0K. That news would likely be considered by the Reserve Bank of Australia when they next decide on interest rate policy, with expectations growing that they will need to ease further.
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