Australian dollar slips a little versus slightly stronger greenback

THE Australian dollar has slipped a little against its US counterpart which has strengthened to a one-week high against a basket of six major currencies.

THE Australian dollar has slipped a little against its US counterpart which has strengthened to a one-week high against a basket of six major currencies. At 0635 AEDT on Tuesday, the Australian dollar was worth 78.39 US cents, down slightly from 78.41 US cents on Monday.

The US dollar index, which fell to a more than three-month low early last week, was up 0.37 per cent at 92.287, finding some support after generally solid US economic data last week.

Westpac’s Imre Speizer says the US dollar had had a “decent bounce”. “The US dollar index is up 0.4 per cent on the day,” he said in a morning note. “(The) AUD retreated as the USD gained, falling from 0.7870 to 0.7827.”

The major event risks for the local currency on Tuesday would be November home building approvals figures, and December’s ANZ job ads data.

“November dwelling approvals are expected to fall 1.0 per cent, reversing October’s 0.9 per cent gain. December ANZ job ads were last up 1.5 per cent in November. Employment growth has relatively outperformed job ads in 2017.”

Mr Speizer said that with the stall in the Australian dollar’s recent rally he expected the currency to move between 78.00 and 79.00 US cents on Tuesday. The Aussie dollar is also down against the yen but higher against the euro

Originally published as Australian dollar slips a little versus slightly stronger greenback