Australian dollar rises

The Australian dollar has risen Thursday, buying 73.06 US cents from 72.33 cents on Wednesday.

Yesterday, the local currency has held its ground as the market waited for some clarity to emerge on Sino-US trade, while soft economic data at home had only a fleeting impact.

US President Donald Trump is open to reaching a deal over dinner on Saturday with Chinese leader Xi Jinping but is ready to hike tariffs if there is no breakthrough, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on Tuesday.

Yet with the clock ticking, it was unclear whether the two sides had agreed on a formal agenda for the leaders’ talks after the G20 summit in Buenos Aires.

The uncertainty kept the Aussie steady at US$0.7231 on Wednesday.

ABS data on Wednesday disappointed, with construction work falling 2.8 per cent in the third quarter when analysts had looked for a rise of 1.0 per cent.

Westpac economist Andrew Hanlan said the miss would dent economic growth in the quarter, figures for which are due out next week.

He has been looking at a quarterly rise of 0.7 per cent in GDP, with annual growth of 3.4 per cent.

“Risks to this number are now clearly to the downside,” said Hanlan.

“Although, we are mindful that jobs growth was robust in the quarter – a labour market performance which suggests the economy continued to move ahead at a solid pace.”

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