Among the major currencies traded, the Aussie Dollar was the day’s largest gainer as traders end their summer holidays. The AUD/USD gained nearly 1% in the absence of any commentary from Glenn Stevens, the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, who failed to make note of the Aussie’s 10% appreciation since the beginning of the year. Earlier the RBA had left its benchmark rate unchanged at 1.5%. FX traders had been expecting the RBA to hint at some sort of policy change given the rising Aussie and the impact it has on the Australian economy. However, the latest data has shown that the economy has continued to grow steadily, despite a slowdown in China, with the current account deficit trimmed beyond expectations.
As reported at 10:44 am (BST) in London, the AUD/USD was trading at $0.7642, a gain of 0.73%; the pair had hit a session peak of $0.7655 earlier, while the low was at $0.7576. The AUD/JPY was trading at 78.9458 Yen, up 0.62%.
Yen Bounces on Kuroda Comments
The Japanese Yen had earlier seen some broad gains against the Dollar and the Euro after the Bank of Japan’s governor had acknowledged that negative interest rates were creating some problems. Haruhiko Kuroda hinted on Monday that the Bank of Japan was ready to expand his QE policy when needed, despite the “costs.” Some analysts believe, however, that the BOJ might have to change its tune when they weigh those costs against future benefits. The USD/JPY pair was trading at 103.278 Yen, down 0.15%.