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Aussie Is Near Three-Week High on Stocks, Commodities, U.S. Economic Data
The Australian dollar traded near a three-week high against the greenback as global stocks and commodities rose amid signs the U.S. economic recovery remains resilient, boosting demand for growth-sensitive currencies.
New Zealand’s dollar was close to a two-week high against the greenback after the Institute for Supply Management’s measure of U.S. manufacturing unexpectedly rose for August. Data today are forecast to show U.S. factory orders advanced in July. Gains in the Australian dollar may be limited before figures that economists said will show the nation’s trade surplus fell.
“Markets were clearly in the mood for a return to risk and the ISM provided the right excuse for it,” Khoon Goh, head of market economics and strategy at ANZ National Bank Ltd. in Wellington, wrote in a research note today. “Equities were sent higher, bond prices fell, commodities were bid up, and the New Zealand and Australian dollars put on strong gains.”
Australia’s dollar was at 90.98 U.S. cents as of 8:58 a.m. in Sydney from 91.17 in New York yesterday, when it touched 91.17, the strongest since Aug. 11. The so-called Aussie traded at 76.80 yen from 76.99 yen.
The New Zealand dollar fetched 71.21 U.S. cents from 71.20. It reached 71.49 U.S. cents on Aug. 30, the highest since Aug. 19. The so-called kiwi was at 60.11 yen from 60.12.
The MSCI World Index advanced 2.9 percent and the Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index of raw materials rose 1.6 percent yesterday.
The ISM factory index, a gauge of U.S. manufacturing, unexpectedly increased to 56.3 last month from 55.5 in July, the Tempe, Arizona-based group said yesterday. Orders placed with U.S. factories gained 0.2 percent in July after dropping 1.2 percent in June, according to a Bloomberg News survey of economists before the Commerce Department reports the data today.
Australia’s trade surplus fell to A$3.1 billion ($2.8 billion) in July from a record A3.54 billion in June, according to another Bloomberg survey before the government’s report today.
To contact the reporter on this story: Yoshiaki Nohara in Tokyo at ynohara1@bloomberg.net.
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