The Australian dollar held yesterday’s decline versus its U.S. counterpart before a report forecast to show deteriorating consumer sentiment in Germany, damping demand for higher-yielding assets. The so-called Aussie weakened against 15 of its 16 major peers after a U.S. report showed durable orders rose more than economists forecast, reducing prospects Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke will signal additional measures to stimulate the economy tomorrow. New Zealand’s dollar strengthened, erasing earlier declines versus the greenback as Asian stocks rallied. “There are still a lot of global concerns and that still weighs heavily on sentiment and on the market,” said Matthew Brady, executive director for foreign exchange at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Sydney. “I would like to sell any rallies for the Australian dollar at this point in time.” Australia’s dollar bought $1.0462 as of 2:27 p.m. in Sydney from $1.0474 in New York yesterday, when it dropped 0.5 percent. It was at 80.50 yen from 80.63 yen. New Zealand’s currency traded at 83.02 U.S. cents from 82.84 cents yesterday, after earlier falling to as low as 82.58 cents. It was at 63.88 yen from 63.77 yen. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index of regional shares gained 1.1 percent today following a 1.3 percent advance in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index yesterday. German consumer sentiment will fall in September to its lowest level since October, a gauge from Nuremberg-based market research company GfK SE will show, according to a Bloomberg News survey of economists. Business confidence in Europe’s biggest economy has fallen to its lowest level in more than a year and investor sentiment this month dropped the most in five years, data released over the past two days showed. Bernanke Speech The Fed chairman is scheduled to speak tomorrow at a conference of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. At the same conference last year, Bernanke said the Fed would “do all that it can” to spur growth, raising speculation he will make similar comments at this year’s event. The Fed went on to announce in November a $600 billion debt-purchase plan, the second round of so-called quantitative easing, that concluded in June. Bookings in the U.S. for goods meant to last at least three years rose 4 percent in July, a Commerce Department report showed yesterday. That compares with economists’ prediction for a 2 percent increase. Retail Sales Declines in the kiwi were limited as better than forecast retail sales data lifted prospects for interest-rate increases by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. Statistics New Zealand said in Wellington today that retail sales adjusted for inflation rose 0.9 percent in the second quarter compared with a revised 1.1 percent gain in the three months ended March 31. That exceeded the 0.6 percent median estimate of 10 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. “New Zealand consumer spending is far stronger than that observed in the other dollar-bloc countries,” Annette Beacher, head of Asia-Pacific research at TD Securities in Singapore, wrote in an e-mailed note today. “Our preferred option is for the RBNZ to reverse the emergency cut and clearly signal that the cash rate can remain at 3 percent.” Traders expect New Zealand’s key rate to be at 2.69 percent by year-end from 2.5 percent currently, according to prices from Westpac Institutional Bank, a unit of Australia’s Westpac Banking Corp. Australian Exporters Australia’s exporters expect the currency to peak at $1.17 by year-end, more than 17 cents above the range that most believe makes them uncompetitive, Commonwealth Bank of Australia said in a report, citing a survey of more than 600 businesses with annual sales of A$5 million ($5.23 million) to A$500 million. About 54 percent of exporters surveyed said the high Australian dollar might force them to cut jobs. The Aussie has lost 4 percent so far this year, the third- worst performer among the 10 developed-nation currencies tracked by Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Currency indexes. Australia’s benchmark 10-year yield climbed six basis points to 4.42 percent. Yields on the country’s three-year debt rose to 3.77 percent from 3.66 percent. New Zealand’s two-year swap rate, a fixed payment made to receive floating rates, rose two basis points to 3.37 percent. To contact the reporter on this story: Kristine Aquino in Singapore at kaquino1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Rocky Swift at rswift5@bloomberg.net

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