The Australian dollar remained fragile on Friday and underperformed its steadier New Zealand neighbour, as falling global commodity prices and the risk of a rate cut at home weighed on sentiment. The Aussie dollar did struggle up to $0.7096 from a trough of $0.7067, but was still down 1.7 percent for the week.
The kiwi edged up to $0.6724, and well away from a low of $0.6622 touched earlier in the week.
Undermining the Aussie has been speculation the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) might cut interest rates at its policy meeting next week, plus the risk of a hike in US rates by the end of the year.
Soft domestic inflation data and the recent decision by major Australian banks to lift mortgage rates have led investors to price in around a 40 percent chance of a cut in the RBA's 2.0 percent cash rate on November 3.
New Zealand government bonds eased, with yields 4 basis points higher.
Australian government bond futures eased in line with US Treasuries. The three-year bond contract lost 2 ticks to 98.210, while the 10-year contract dropped 4 ticks to 97.3500. The 20-year contract eased 3 ticks to 96.7950.
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