Dollar back below 80 cents

THE Australian dollar is sharply lower against its US counterpart which has rebounded following solid US durable goods figures.

THE Australian dollar is sharply lower against its US counterpart which has rebounded following solid US durable goods figures.

At 0635 AEST on Friday, the Australian dollar was worth 79.68 US cents, down from 80.37 US cents on Thursday.

Westpac’s Imre Speizer said markets reversed a good part of Thursday’s Federal Open Market Committee-related reactions, partly helped by solid US durable goods data, with the US dollar and bond yields rebounded while equities fell. US durable goods lifted 6.5 per cent in June, far exceeding expectations of a 3.9 per cent rise.

Following the data release, the Atlanta Fed upgraded its model estimate of second quarter gross domestic production from 2.5 per cent to 2.8 per cent.

“The US dollar index is up 0.2 per cent on the day, having rebounded to where it was before yesterday’s FOMC,” Mr Speizer said in a Friday morning note. “The AUD fell from 0.8066 (which was a two-year high) to 0.7959.”

He said he could see the Aussie dollar falling further on Friday. “(It’s) vulnerable to correcting further towards 0.7900.” The local currency is also lower against the yen and the euro.

CURRENCY SNAPSHOT AT 0635 AEST ON FRIDAY

One Australian dollar buys:

* 79.68 US cents, from 80.37 on Thursday

* .8864 Japanese yen, from .8928 yen

* 68.24 euro cents, from 68.51 euro cents

Originally published as Dollar back below 80 cents