On Wednesday, the US dollar was backed by hopes that American interest rates will edge up by the year-end. It stood flat during Asia trade, just below a nine-month high reached overnight, while the Australian dollar earned as inflation data doused the probability of a rate drop there.
In Australia, consumer prices managed to rebound by more than forecast the previous quarter, while the annual pace of core inflation rose for the first time a year, thus leading traders to price out almost any likelihood of a near-term drop in interest rates.
The Reserve Bank of Australia holds its monthly policy gathering next week and it’s supposed to keep rates at a record minimum of 1.5%.
The Aussie leapt to $0.7709 from $0.7645 before the news. Last it rose 0.5% on the day at $0.7684.
The common currency stood still at $1.0890, having slipped to an almost eight-month minimum of $1.0848 on Tuesday.
Against the Japanese yen, the greenback stood at 104.24, quite flat on the day, though not far from a roughly three-month peak of 104.87 yen achieved overnight during American trading.
