Monday, October 19, 2009

Australian Dollar Trades Near 2009 Record High


Australian dollarAfter falling from the highest level in more than 14 months towards the end of last week’s session in a day of bearish performance in stock markets, the Australian dollar started this week climbing once again on speculations regarding increased interest rates in the country.

The Australian dollar together with its New Zealand counterpart rebounded from a corrective movement Friday as stocks rose adding confidence that interest rates in the South Pacific region will return to pre-crisis levels gradually, after a Reserve Bank of Australia official affirmed that interest rates in the country are due to move towards normality, suggesting that record low levels will be lifted as soon as the economic conditions provide support for elevating borrowing costs in Australia, fact which is fueling an intense rally in South Pacific currencies, setting the Aussie and the kiwi among the 3 top performers in foreign-exchange markets, together with the Brazilian real, originated as well from a commodity exporter country.

The renewed risk appetite that fueled stocks in Asia also brought investors back to the Australian dollar-priced assets, suggesting that the Aussie is likely to remain at very high-levels towards the end of the year, as more than one rate hike is expected from the central bank in that nation for the following months.

AUD/USD traded at 0.9211 as of 13:11 GMT from an opening rate yesterday of 0.9144. AUD/JPY traded at 83.65 from 83.05.

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