“Australia’s dollar rose, extending its first weekly gain against the greenback in six, amid speculation record bets on its decline may be overdone.
The Aussie rebounded from its biggest drop in a week before minutes tomorrow from theReserve Bank of Australia that could point to the timing of a potential interest-rate cut. The Australian and New Zealand dollars climbed against their 15 major peers before a Federal Reserve meeting this week that may provide clues on when policy makers will begin curtailing quantitative easing. The kiwi dollar touched the highest this month against its Australian counterpart after New Zealand’s consumer confidence climbed to the most in three years.
“Positioning is at record extremes” in the Australian dollar, said Sue Trinh, a senior currency strategist at Royal Bank of Canada in Hong Kong. Trading “should remain largely choppy, but there’s a risk of potential short-covering,” she said. A short position is a bet an asset’s price will fall.
The Australian dollar rose 0.5 percent to 96.21 U.S. cents at 5:02 p.m. in Sydney from June 14, when it dropped 0.7 percent, the most since June 7. It gained 0.8 percent last week. The Aussie strengthened 1.7 percent to 91.55 yen.
The New Zealand dollar advanced 0.6 percent to 80.94 U.S. cents, and gained 1.5 percent to 76.97 yen. It was little changed at NZ$1.1894 per Australian dollar after earlier gaining to NZ$1.1850, the highest since May 29.
