The pound Australian dollar exchange rate is 1.128% higher on the day with 1 GBP = 1.5549 AUD. The euro to Australian dollar exchange rate is 0.847% higher with 1 EUR = 1.3607 AUD. The Australian dollar to US dollar exchange rate is 1.934% lower with 1 AUD = 0.9937 USD. The Australian dollar has taken a beating overnight - tis averse trading saw the aussie dollar sell off, triggered by a bearish Fed and poor Chinese data. "Chinese manufacturing PMI data revealed a third consecutive month of contraction, which does not bode well for demand for Australian commodity exports. This is a crucial driver of aussie dollar strength. Additionally, a cautious view from the Fed of US growth and potential strains in the financial markets also put the aussie dollar on the defensive. Importantly, the aussie dollar dipped briefly below parity with the US dollar, which it has been trading above for the past seven months," says a morning note from UK money transfer company Caxton Fx. The pound sterling is now trading at a healthier level up near 1.55, and with equities opening on the back foot this morning, the aussie may find it difficult to avoid further losses. Looking at the pound to New Zealand dollar exchange rate we see that GDP data added pressure to the kiwi dollar. "Chinese growth data and Fed bearishness hurt the kiwi dollar, but domestic growth data also soured market sentiment. GDP data from the third quarter revealed kiwi growth of just 0.1%, well below expectations of 0.5% and Q2’s 0.9% figure. Strong economic performance has been important to the kiwi dollar’s performance since the kiwi earthquake; this slowdown will not be good for RBNZ rate hike bets," says the note from the UK money transfer company Caxton Fx. Regardless of broad sterling weakness, global risk aversion was the key factor driving pound outperformance yesterday. This pair is trading up at 1.95 now and there remains good upside potential.

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