Aud/Usd

Aud/Usd: The Australian Dollar opens sharply lower on Wednesday just under US89 cents after weaker than expected U.S. consumer confidence data released overnight took the wind out of the sails of higher yielding currencies and riskier assets. The Aussie had a quiet local session on Tuesday but came to life during a pre-dinner speech by Reserve Bank official Ric Battellino who said, amongst other things, that “the exchange rate will probably continue to rise”, briefly pushing the unit to a one-month high above 0.9050. The rally was short-lived however as risk-aversion took over during the New York session which saw a gradual 2-cent decline down to a low of 0.8877.

- I expect a range today in the AUD/USD rate of 0.8870 to 0.8945