Aussie Climbs To Fresh 2-year High Against Euro
During early Asian trading on Tuesday, the Australian dollar strengthened against its major opponents as a rally in most of Asia-pacific stocks prompted investors to turn towards the riskier-assets. The aussie jumped to a fresh 2-year high against the euro, 10-week high against the yen and a 3-week high against the US dollar.
Australia’s All Ordinaries Index is currently trading up 48 points or 0.98% to 4,938 and the S&P/ASX 200 Index is presently gaining 47 points or 0.97% to 4,924. Among other markets, Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index, South Korea’s KOSPI, New Zealand’s NZX All Capital Index and NZX 50 Index are currently trading higher.
In economic news, the Australian new homes sales rose 0.3% in November, according to the survey results published by the Australian Housing Industry Association. Detached house sales rose 0.8%, but this was offset by a 4.9% decline in multi-unit sales-report showed.
The Australian dollar climbed to 1.5765 against the European currency by 7:10 pm ET, the highest level since the second week of November 2007. If the domestic unit ticks up further, resistance is likely to be seen around the 1.563 level. The euro-aussie pair, which closed yesterday’s deals at 1.5799, is presently quoted at 1.5788.
The aussie touched a 3-week high of 0.9164 against the greenback by 7:10 pm ET, compared to 0.9128 hit late New York Monday. The next upside target for the aussie-buck pair is seen around the 0.92 level. Currently, the pair is trading at 0.9136.
The US Department of Commerce report showed yesterday that construction spending fell 0.6 percent to an annual rate of $900.1 billion in November from the revised October estimate of $905.6 billion. Economists had been expecting spending to decrease by about 0.5 percent.
Meanwhile, the Institute of Supply Management said its index of activity in the manufacturing sector jumped to 55.9 in December from 53.6 in November, with a reading above 50 indicating growth in the sector. Economists had been expecting the index to increase to a reading of 54.3.
The aussie also advanced to a fresh multi-week high of 0.9525 against the Canadian dollar by 7:10 pm ET, compared to 0.9509 hit late New York Monday. The aussie-loonie pair is presently worth 0.9512 with 0.958 seen as the next target level.
Against the New Zealand dollar, the Australian currency reached as high as 1.247 before slipping back around 7:20 pm ET. The aussie-kiwi pair that closed yesterday’s deals at 1.2439 is presently quoted at 1.2435.
Against the yen, the Australian currency soared to a 10-week high of 84.67 at this time and this may be compared to Monday’s North American session closing value of 84.46. On the upside, the aussie-yen pair may find target around the 85.2 level. The pair started reversing its direction thereafter and is presently quoted at 84.41.
Japan’s monetary base rose 5.2 percent in December from a year earlier, the Bank of Japan said in a report today. This was much higher than the previous month’s 3.8 percent.
