PERTH: The Australian dollar is lower after strong US economic data gave the US dollar a boost in overnight trade.
The Australian currency was worth US77.15c at 12.00pm (AEST) on Tuesday, down from US77.90c on Monday.
US existing home sales rose at a better than expected rate of 5.1 per cent in May, beating economists’ expectations, which helped the US dollar be the best performing currency in offshore trade and the Australian dollar one of the worst.
However, during the local morning the Australian dollar has traded in a tight range between US77.05c and US77.40c.
Easy Forex senior dealer Liam Moon said weaker than expected local housing data and strong Chinese manufacturing data has pulled the currency in opposite directions.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ residential property price index rose 1.6 per cent in the March quarter, slightly worse than the market forecast.
The HSBC manufacturing index for China showed that activity in the sector was contracting at a slower rate, and the result was slightly better than expected.
“We’ve had some minor negative data and some minor positive data, so we haven’t seen much movement in the Australian dollar,” Mr Moon said.
On Tuesday night Jerome Powell, who is on the US Federal Reserve’s board of governors, will give a speech in Washington on monetary policy.
“You may see some movement tonight because a member of the Federal Reserve, Mr Powell is going to be speaking on the US dollar,” he said.
