Posted on 15th August 2012, by Moneycorp Dealer Team, Moneycorp
The Australian dollar's week was far less successful than the one which went before. Instead of adding a cent against the pound it lost one.
Given that the Canadian dollar made joint first place it was not a matter of investors being averse to commodity currencies. The Aussie's only consolation was that the euro and the New Zealand dollar did even worse.
Australian economic data were of only occasional and marginal help to the currency. The construction sector purchasing managers' index was two points lower in July at a dismal 32.6, just a couple of points off its long term low last October. Thursday's employment data were better than expected, with 14k new jobs taking the unemployment rate down to 5.2%.
The Reserve Bank of Australia kept its cash rate steady at 3.5%. From the RBA's statement investors got the idea that it may be considering intervention to depress the value of the dollar, though that notion soon evaporated.