The GDP for the first quarter of 2012 in Australia came in 1.3%, beating forecast of 0.5%, and Q4 2011 reading of 0.4%, according to the latest report from the Austalian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The year-over-year reading came in at 4.3%, while Q4 year-to-year was 3.6%.
This much-improved growth reading might be able to sooth recent concerns of slowing growth due to slowdown in mining and moderation in China’s economy.
More data like this will convince the market that the rate cutting campaign might be put aside for now.
The market traded up the Australian Dollar in the immediate minutes after the strong data release at 9:30PM EDT. It has pushed above 0.98 to 0.9830 within 10 minutes.
The AUD/NZD for example rallied from 1.2870 to above 1.29.
