The Australian dollar remains steady today after a round of local and overseas data sent mixed signals to investors on the future direction of the currency.
At 6.19am(GMT) the Aussie dollar was trading at US74.94c slightly down from US74.98c in yesterday’s trading
Data released out of China earlier today showed the Consumer Price Index for March rose 0.9% year on year which was slightly below analysts’ expectations for a figure of 1 percent.
The monthly figure hit the market at -0.3 percent which is the number investors had expected.
The Producer price index came in at a healthy 7.6 percent and shows the sector is moving along nicely.
The positive numbers are good news for the Australian economy and in turn the Australian dollar as traders began to worry over the state of the Chinese economy but this data may go some way to alleviate those fears.
From Australia, earlier today we saw the release of the Westpac consumer confidence index which was released to the market at a disappointing -0.7 percent and well down on last month’s figure of 0.1 percent.
The disappointing number may be attributed to growing expectations of an interest rate hike later in the year from the Reserve Bank of Australia which is making consumers reign in their spending in anticipation for higher borrowing costs.