The Australian dollar climbed against its most-traded peers today after the release of macroeconomic data, both domestic and in China.
The Westpac Melbourne Institute Index of Consumer Sentiment rose 0.2% in March from February following the 2.3% drop last month. Westpac Senior Economist, Matthew Hassan, commented on the report:
Sentiment continues to hold in slightly optimistic territory with March marking the fourth consecutive monthly reading above the 100 level. That followed a year in which pessimism dominated. However, the Index is still well below levels typically associated with a robust consumer.
Chinese industrial production rose 7.2% year-on-year in January-February, whereas experts had anticipated the same 6.2% growth as in the previous reporting period. Fixed-asset investment rose 7.9%, beating to the median forecast of 7.0% and accelerating from the previous reading of 7.2%. Retail sales increased by 9.7%, compared to the average prediction of 9.9% and the prior figure of 9.4%.
AUD/USD rallied from 0.7855 to 0.7902 as of 11:54 GMT today. EUR/AUD dropped from 1.5771 to 1.5669. AUD/JPY jumped from 83.62 to 84.10.
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