The Australian dollar has continued to climb and is trading at around US87.80 cents today up from US87.46 cents on Friday even as positive data out of the US hit the market.
On Friday US retail sales came in at 0.3% against a consensus of 0.2% and The Reuters/Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index which is an accurate measure of consumer confidence showed a reading of 89.4 against analysts’ expectations of 87.5.
This shows that the Aussie dollar has some life left in it as against the backdrop of such news we should have seen the greenback strengthen but this wasn’t the case.
Also boosting the local currency was the Announcement that Australia and China would sign a free trade agreement potentially offsetting the effects of the downturn in the mining boom. The deal could help pump $18 billion into the Australian economy over the next 10 years
Senior government MP Josh Frydenberg told ABC radio "I think this is a game-changer," "It will supercharge our trade with China. Up to 95 percent of our exports over time will enter the Chinese market tariff free."
Australia is Chinas largest trading partner with bilateral trade reaching $150 billion.
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