SYDNEY: The Australian dollar was consolidating broad gains on Wednesday as strength on global commodity prices and rising bond yields gave it a leg up on the yen and euro, where most yields are still sub-zero.
The yen has been further undermined by Japan’s reliance on energy imports, while Australia is the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas and a major shipper of coal.
That helped lift the Aussie 1.7% for the week so far to 83.40 yen, after hitting a three-month top of 83.79 overnight. A break of resistance at 82.12 early in the week triggered technical buying with the next target being 84.20.
There was a similar turn in the euro after a loss of support at A$1.5887 last week saw it dive as deep as A$1.5638. That was the lowest since early July and could herald a further retreat to the A$1.5500 area.
The gains in turn helped the Aussie firm to $1.7340, having touched a one-month top of $0.7384 overnight.
The New Zealand dollar lagged behind at $0.6935, after repeatedly failing to clear resistance around $0.6970. The Aussie has been on the rise against the kiwi for a couple of weeks now to reach a three-month high of NZ$1.0612 , well away from its September trough of NZ$1.0270. Westpac analyst Imre Speizer saw further gains to NZ$1.0700 in part as Australia’s mix of commodities was outperforming that of New Zealand, where the major earner is dairy.
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