Hi Everyone

The commodity-oriented Australian, Canadian and New Zealand dollars clustered just ahead of the pound after a game-of-two-halves rally and relapse. That Australian dollar ended up leader of the bunch, but only by a narrow margin and for no compelling reason.

Other than its still-attractive interest rate, there was little to commend the AUD. A slack handful of Australian economic indicators showed growth in the services sector, while manufacturing activity shrank more quickly. A slackening residential property market delivered an -8% fall in new home sales, continued softness in building approvals and a -2.6% annual fall in the RP Data-Rismark house price index.

When the Reserve Bank of Australia board meets to discuss monetary policy this week, most analysts think it will leave the cash rate at 4.75%. However, a significant minority now believe a downward move will come before the end of the year.

To find out how you can protect yourself from adverse movements in the rates- or take advantage of them if you are sending funds out of Oz contact Moneycorp today.

John