The Australian Dollar deprived Wednesday's gains against the Greenback, as the report showed an unexpected fall in Australian retail sales. The AUD/USD marked solid decline of 0.34% or 26 base points to the 0.7830 mark and continued the side move near the aforesaid level.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics release showed that the country's retail sales dropped significantly 0.6% in August, missing projections for a 0.3% increase in the reported month. The decrease could be attributed to households suffering from low pay growth, higher energy bills, as well as record debt levels and weakening property price growth. Weak retail sales are likely to weigh on Australian economic expanison in the Q3, supporting the view that RBA is unlikely to raise rates next year.
| Historical Data Table: AU Retail Sales | |||||
| Date | 01.06.2017 | 04.07.2017 | 03.08.2017 | 07.09.2017 | 05.10.2017 |
| Actual | 1.0% | 0.6% | 0.3% | 0.0% | -0.6% |
| Forecast | 0.3% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.3% |
| Initial Reaction on Main Pairs | |||||
| Open Price | Close Price | % Change | |||
| AUD/JPY | 88.691 | 88.426 | -0.30% | ||
| AUD/USD | 0.78562 | 0.78366 | -0.25% | ||
| EUR/AUD | 1.49681 | 1.50031 | 0.23% | ||
| GBP/AUD | 1.68558 | 1.68914 | 0.21% | ||