AFTER enduring its worst week since September 2011, the Australian dollar recovered slightly during the last week of June. The recovery was short-lived however, as falling gold prices also began weighing on the Aussie currency by the week’s end.
The mid-week strengthening came on the back of announcements by the People’s Bank of China that they will put measures in place to guard against their own credit crunch. The Aussie dollar was also apparently buoyed by the reinstatement of Kevin Rudd to the helm of the Labour Party and subsequently to the prime ministership following the leadership spill which saw Julia Gillard step down.
The Aussie dollar again returned to its downward trend by the end of the week though as the weak gold prices and fears that US quantitative easing may end again took its effect. The price of gold fell below $US1,200 for the first time in three years on Friday.
Economic data that might influence the movement of the AUD this week is the Reserve Bank of Australia’s rate decision as well as the US unemployment rates, to be released on Friday.
