SYDNEY: The Australian dollar has soared by more than one-and-a-half US cents after the US Federal Reserve signaled it would need to see an improvement in the jobs market before raising interest rates.
At 0630 AEDT on Thursday, the local currency was trading at 77.75 US cents, up from 76.06 cents on Wednesday.
The Australian dollar surged from 76.35 to a two-week high of 78.03 US cents, early on Thursday morning, after the Fed’s Federal Open Market Committee released a statement saying it would need to see an improvement in the jobs market before raising the federal funds rate.
It also said it would need to be confident that inflation would move back to its two per cent target “over the medium term”. The Fed removed the word “patience” from its statement regarding a possible rate increase but it downgraded its quarterly forecasts for growth.
The US dollar weakened against a range of currencies.
