AUD saw an increase. Overview for 18.04.2023

The Australian dollar is trying to grow against the US dollar again. The current quote is 0.6727.

China has issued a large chunk of statistics today that turned out, indeed, positive. For Australia, stable Chinese reports are crucial because China is the country’s leading trade and economic partner.

Do, the Chinese GDP in Q1 2023 increased by 4.5% y/y, while in Q4 2022 the economy rose by a modest 2.9%. The forecast had suggested an increase of 4.0%. Quarter by quarter, the growth is estimated at 2.2%, just as expected.

Industrial production in March rose 3.9% y/y, just a little bit less than expected. Retail sales sky-rocketed by 10.6% y/y after growing by 3.5% in February.

All the reports look confident. This confirms the theory that the Chinese economy is able to get back its status as the global economic leader this year.

In the minutes of the April meeting of the Reserve Bank of Australia, it is said that the regulator considered increasing the interest rate further but decided to pause, after all. The RBA had previously lifted the rate by 350 base points in total. This cooled down the consumer demand, but extreme caution is necessary from now on. The pause does not mean that the phase of interest rate increases is over.

For the Aussie, this release is neutral because the RBA has many times voiced its view on this.