The Australian dollar has jumped more than three-quarters of a US cent after surprisingly strong Chinese trade data and good US jobs figures.
At 0700 AEDT on Monday, the local unit was trading at 91.33 US cents, up from 90.50 cents on Friday.
China’s exports grew much stronger than expected last month due to demand from the US and Europe, official figures show.
There was also strong employment data out of the US, with the jobless rate falling sharply to a five-year low of 7.0 per cent in November, increasing the chance that the US Federal Reserve could begin winding back its economic stimulus program soon.
The strong US data should have boosted the greenback but instead, it pushed the Australian dollar higher, Westpac New Zealand senior market strategist Imre Speizer said.
“The strong US payrolls report should have pushed the Australian dollar lower. However, I think it was more than fully priced by the market already,” Mr Speizer said.
“The market needed a really strong number to push up the US dollar, so the number actually pushed down the US dollar. It’s an odd reaction but the market was expecting something even stronger.
“The Aussie dollar opened even higher this morning and the explanation for that was the Chinese trade balance on Sunday which was very strong.”
China’s November trade surplus expanded to $US33.8 billion ($A37.31 billion) from $US31.1 billion in October. Exports increased 12.7 per cent to $US202.2 billion, while imports were up 5.3 per cent year-on-year to $US168.4 billion.
AAP
