Australian Dollar May Rise Second Day on Gain in Commodities
1/18/10By Candice Zachariahs (Bloomberg) – The Australian dollar may gain a second day after prices of commodities, which account for a majority of the nation’s exports, advanced on prospects for recovering global demand.
New Zealand’s dollar may also rise before tomorrow’s report on consumer prices forecast to show annual inflation accelerated from a more than five-year low to the highest since the first quarter of last year. Australia’s dollar may also climb before China, its largest trading partner, releases data for fourth- quarter gross domestic product on Jan. 21.
“The Aussie has ouperformed in overnight trade on the rally in base metals ahead of China’s economic data scheduled for release on Thursday,” said Nick Jonas, a foreign exchange and interest rates trader at Suncorp-Metway Ltd. in Brisbane. The Australian dollar “continues to be supported on dips.”
Australia’s currency traded unchanged at 92.63 U.S. cents as of 9:17 a.m. in Sydney from yesterday in New York. The currency bought 84.05 yen from 84.10. New Zealand’s dollar fetched 73.90 U.S. cents from 73.89 yesterday and bought 67.05 yen from 67.07 yen.
The Australian dollar will likely trade in a range of 91.80 cents to 93.30 cents over the next few sessions, Jonas said.
Crude oil, Australia’s fourth-most valuable raw material export, yesterday ended five days of declines after China Oil, Gas & Petrochemicals said the nation’s imports may rise 15 percent this year. The London Metals Index, tracking the prices of copper, aluminum, lead, tin, zinc and nickel, rose 0.7 percent yesterday.
China’s GDP increased 10.5 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, according to the median estimate of 41 economists in a Bloomberg News survey.
Consumer prices in New Zealand gained an annual 2.1 percent in the fourth quarter, a report will show on Jan. 20, according to a separate survey.
To contact the reporter on this story: Candice Zachariahs in Sydney at czachariahs2@bloomberg.net



