The Australian dollar was the only commodity currency to slip against the US dollar today. Although the biggest drop in new home sales in almost a year could be blamed, it was not the trigger for the day?s weakness.
In fact, the AUD/USD hit an 18 year high before reversing all of its gains at the US market open. Instead, gold prices were to blame. Prices of the yellow metal fell to a 3 month low, dragging the Aussie dollar down with it. The New Zealand and Canadian dollars remained firm however. Demand for the high yielding New Zealand dollar has been unabated, but tonight?s trade balance data could mark a top in the currency pair. Despite the lack of Canadian data and the fall in oil prices, the currency pair benefited from the final approval of the Norwegian based Statoil takeover of Canadian based NAOSC for 2.2 billion Canadian dollars.