Source : Investing.com
The Aussie jumped higher after the release of central
bank minutes on Tuesday pointed to a upbeat assessment of the economy.
AUD/USD traded at 0.7177, up 0.54% while NZD/USD traded at 0.6668, up 0.32% and the USD/JPY traded at 114.71, down 0.10%.
The Reserve Bank of Australia
sees domestic conditions on balance as positive, though it continues to
keep a close eye on the economic wobbles in China, according to the
minutes of its Feb. 2 board meeting released Tuesday.
At the meeting, the RBA held rates at a record low 2%.
Earlier, in New Zealand, retail sales quarter-on-quarter rose 1.2% in the fourth quarter, weaker than the 1.4% gain expected.
The U.S. dollar index,
which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket
of six major currencies, was last quoted at 96.75, up 0.79%
Overnight, the dollar pushed broadly higher against the other major
currencies on Monday, as Friday’s upeat U.S. retail sales data continued
to support and as comments by Japanese Prime Minster Shinzo Abe still
weighed on the yen.
Trading volumes were low on Monday with U.S. markets closed in observance of Presidents' Day.
The Commerce Department said on Friday that retail sales rose 0.2% last month, beating expectations for an increase of 0.1%.
Retail figures used to calculate gross domestic product, which
exclude cars, fuel, building materials and food services, rose 0.6% in
January after a 0.3% fall in the previous month.
Meanwhile, the yen weakened after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
told parliament that "excessive currency volatility is undesirable," and
said Tokyo will take appropriate action in the exchange rate market as
needed. Separately, data earlier showed that Japan’s gross domestic
product contracted by an annualized 1.4% in the three months to
December, worse than expectations for a contraction of 1.2%, following a
revised 1.3% expansion in the second quarter.
Also Monday, data showed that China’s exports fell 11.2% in January
from the same month a year earlier, following a drop of 1.4% in
December. Economists had forecast a far more modest decline of 1.9%.
Imports dropped 18.8% last month after falling 7.6% in December, compared to expectations for a 0.8% decrease.
