Profit taking and speculations drive down the Aussie dollar at week’s closing
Profit takers ruled the day on Friday as the waited job figures from the Department of Labor clouded the prospect of quantitative easing by the Federal Reserves and weighed down on the record gains posted by the Australian dollar this week.
The Australian dollar settled to $US0.9826 US cents, coming from its 28-year high of $US0.9920 cents on Thursday as the market hit the 5pm mark today, enabling the Aussie bucks to buy 98.16/21 US cents, 70.50 euro cents, 80.9 yen and 61.9 pence.
The local currency's near-term support was levelled at $US0.9750, with resistance hovering at around the range of $US0.9918 and $US0.9939.
Analysts said that declarations made by Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Deputy Governor Ric Battellino that the country would be served best by higher interest rates gave the Aussie dollar the needed push as many economists observed that the Australian currency seemed given the free rein to move up.
This in light with Mr Battellino's statement on the Australian dollar's upward surge while global central banks were tinkering with the possibility of pulling down their currencies.
RBC strategist Sue Trinh said that the world may have to contend with a strong Australian dollar which already chalked up remarkable climbs against the US dollar since September and even achieved its peak on Thursday.
The Australian dollar posted its highest level against the sterling in 25 years though its moderating movements during the week's closing day aided the sterling to gain back and post at $1.6188, coming from the record high of $1.6023 on Thursday.
Analysts are convinced that the anticipated US September payroll report would yield a flat result of 75,000 additional jobs for the private sector that could lead to further easing on the monetary policy of the Federal Reserves, in the process sparking more benefits for the Aussie bucks.
Still the direction of going the other way would always be around as HSBC senior manager Daniel Brdanovic told AAP that "the market's going to get carried away, there's too much risk there and probably still more profit-taking to go."
As the market closed, the Australian dollar stood at a steady rate against the New Zealand dollar at $NZ1.3050 as the country's bond futures also settled on firmer standings as the 10-year futures gained 0.050 points to 94.975 while the three-year bond futures went up by 0.06 points to 95.070 points.