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Aust dollar lifts in early trade

Local currency bounces back after slight fall on downbeat China data.
By · 7 Jan 2014
By ·
7 Jan 2014
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The Australian dollar has bounced back after suffering a brief fall on the back of some disappointing Chinese economic data.

At 0700 AEDT, the local unit was trading at 89.64 US cents, up from 89.47 cents on Monday.

Since 1700 AEDT on Monday, the Australian dollar traded between 89.35 US cents and 89.84 cents.

Growth in China's services sector slowed sharply in December, the HSBC purchasing managers index (PMI) fell to 50.9, figures out on Monday showed.

BK Asset Management managing director Boris Schlossberg said the Australian dollar initially fell after the release of the data but then rose despite most sharemarkets losing ground overnight.

"The HSBC China Services PMI also missed its mark printing at 50.9 which was the lowest level since August 2011," he said.

"The news pushed Australian dollar (downwards) through the 89.50 US cent level but corporate demand provided support and it recovered during European trade."

On Tuesday the Australian Bureau of Statistics will release international trade figures for November.

However the main focus for markets this week will be the release of US non-farm payrolls for December on Friday, the key employment indicator for the American economy.

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