Australian dollar lower against strengthened greenback

THE Australian dollar has drifted lower against a stronger greenback amid an improving US economic outlook.

An Australian one-dollar coin is arranged for a photograph in Sydney, Australia, on Wednesday, April 17, 2013. Direct trading between the Australian dollar and yuan started on April 10. Photographer: Ian Waldie/Bloomberg

THE Australian dollar has drifted lower against a stronger greenback amid an improving US economic outlook.

At 0700 AEST on Monday, the local currency was trading at 92.36 US cents, down from 92.41 cents on Friday.

US data released last week were positive for the greenback with a rise in new home sales and a solid result for the Markit manufacturing purchasing managers’ index, which rose to 56.2 in May.

That gave the US dollar a boost, said Bank of New Zealand strategist Kymberly Martin.

A public holiday in the US and UK on Monday meant it would likely be a quiet day for the Australian dollar, she said.

“It was a quiet end to last week across all the currencies probably reflecting the fact that there wasn’t a lot of data and also given that it’s a long weekend in the US and UK today,” Ms Martin said.

“Traders would have been reticent to put on long positions ahead of the long weekend.

“There’s no real data out for Australia today so it’s looking like fairly tight ranges for the start of the week.”

At 0630 AEST on Monday, the local currency was trading at 92.36 US cents, down from 92.41 cents on Friday.

US data released last week were positive for the greenback with a rise in new home sales and a solid result for the Markit manufacturing purchasing managers' index, which rose to 56.2 in May.

Originally published as Australian dollar lower against strengthened greenback