The pound to Australian dollar exchange rate is 0.216% lower on the day with 1 GBP = 1.5379 AUD. The euro to Australian dollar exchange rate is 0.139% higher with 1 EUR = 1.3246 AUD. The Australian dollar to US dollar exchange rate is 0.185% lower with 1 AUD = 1.0281 USD. "Against the Australian dollar sterling is benefiting from the intensification of global risk aversion, regardless of the UK’s considerable exposure to European debt," says a note from Richard Driver at Caxton Fx. Australian business confidence data turned negative yesterday, giving its worst showing in over two years; no doubt a symptom of the global economic outlook. Yesterday’s story that China may buy large amounts of Italian debt helped to stabilise risk sentiment, but this seems highly unlikely to provide any sustained support for confidence. GBP AUD is now trading at 1.53 and the turmoil in the global financial markets looks likely to get worse before it gets better, sterling should maintain the upper hand. Looking at the New Zealand dollar, we see that the kiwi has fared better than its Australian counterpart in the last few sessions but it still looks vulnerable. Amid global uncertainties, it seems unlikely that the Reserve Bank of New Zealand will hike rates at tomorrow night’s interest rate announcement. We may well see the kiwi dollar come off a little this week if that is the case, which is still trading relatively close to all-time lows. Risk appetite stabilised yesterday but a further slide looks likely to occur in coming sessions. For now, this pair is trading at 1.9250.

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