The Australian and New Zealand dollars fell against the greenback after U.S. President Barack Obama said al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has been killed. The so-called Aussie and kiwi dropped as the announcement pushed up U.S. stock futures, boosting the allure of assets in the world’s largest economy. Australia’s currency declined for the first time in five days as the central bank is forecast to keep its benchmark interest rate at 4.75 percent tomorrow, according to 21 of 22 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. “This is good news for the U.S., and that means the dollar gets bought,” said Kuniyuki Hirai, manager of foreign-exchange trading at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd., a unit of Japan’s largest lender. “This may reduce the burden of U.S. military expenses and prove that Obama’s operation was right.” The Australian dollar fell to $1.0939 at 4:01 p.m. in Sydney from $1.0971 in New York on April 29. It earlier touched $1.1011, the highest level since the so-called Aussie began trading freely in 1983. It was at 89.15 yen from 89.06 yen. New Zealand’s currency dropped to 80.55 U.S. cents from 80.99. It earlier reached 81.09 U.S. cents, the highest since March 2008. The kiwi fetched 65.68 yen from 65.75 yen. Obama said bin Laden was killed by U.S. forces during a gun battle outside Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. The president said he authorized the attack after he determined last week there was enough intelligence to take action. Futures for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 0.8 percent. Higher Commodities Prices The Australian dollar climbed earlier on speculation increasing commodity prices will keep pressure on the central bank to raise interest rates. A report is forecast to show U.S. manufacturing expanded at a slower pace in April, adding to signs the South Pacific nation’s central bank will raise borrowing costs later this year before its U.S. counterpart does. The Aussie dollar is strengthening for three reasons: “commodity prices, the second one is the U.S. dollar weakness and the third one is the anticipation of interest-rate hikes,” said Kurt Magnus, executive director of currency sales in Sydney at Nomura Holdings Inc., Japan’s biggest brokerage. Slowing U.S. Expansion The Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing index in the U.S. fell to 59.5 last month from 61.2 in March, according to the median economist estimate in a Bloomberg News survey before the Tempe, Arizona-based group reports the data today. Figures greater than 50 signal expansion. The Thomson Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index of raw materials rose 1.2 percent on April 29. Swaps traders are betting the Reserve Bank of Australia will raise its target rate by 29 basis points over the next 12 months, up from 25 basis points last week, a Credit Suisse AG index showed today. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point. Australian bond futures fell. Ten-year contracts for June delivery dropped to 94.555 on the Sydney Futures Exchange from 94.560. The implied yield gained half a basis point to 5.445 percent. New Zealand’s two-year swap rate, a fixed payment made to receive floating rates, rose 0.9 percentage point to 3.365 percent. To contact the reporter on this story: Yoshiaki Nohara in Tokyo at ynohara1@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Rocky Swift at rswift5@bloomberg.net.

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