The Australian dollar broadly rallied on Thursday as figures on future business investment in the country proved stronger than some had anticipated and cooled interest rate cut expectations. The Aussie dollar gained one cent to $1.0274, recovering from an overnight slide which had sent the currency to its lowest since October.
The bounce came after estimates of business spending plans for 2012/13 and 2013/14 were generally above what many had feared, suggesting investment would remain healthy for some time to come. Aussie strength dragged the New Zealand dollar higher at $0.8316, from $0.8231 in early trade, pulling further away from a near two-month trough of $0.8223 set this week. Also helping the Aussie dollar was talk of large bids perhaps related to coming dividend payments by major miners. Likewise, the kiwi climbed as far as 76.89 yen, from a one-month low of 75.07 touched overnight.