Risk Aversion Drives AUD to New Lows Despite Unexpectedly Widening Trade Surplus

The Australian dollar fell today, reaching a new low for the year against the US dollar, amid risk aversion on the Forex market. The unexpected increase of the trade surplus failed to support the currency.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that the trade balance logged a surplus of A$1.60 billion in August, up from A$1.55 billion in July. That was a surprise to market participants, who were expecting a decline to A$1.43 billion. Yet the positive data was unable to overcome the negative impact of the risk-off market sentiment, failing to aid the Aussie.
AUD/USD fell from 0.7101 to 0.7081 as of 9:51 GMT today, and its daily low of 0.7066 was the lowest since February 2016. AUD/JPY declined from 81.33 to 80.99.

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