The Australian dollar has broken through the 103 US cent mark to reach its highest level in almost three weeks, helped along by weakness in its New Zealand counterpart.
At 7am AEDT on Wednesday, the currency was trading at 103.21 US cents, up from 102.83 cents at yesterday’s local close. The Australian dollar reached 103.37 earlier on Wednesday morning, its highest level since February 22.
Westpac New Zealand senior market strategist Imre Speizer said the Australian dollar performed during otherwise risk-averse trading during the US and European sessions overnight.
He said the rise may be partly due to weakness in the New Zealand dollar, which has surged against the Aussie since the start of 2013.
“There was no news so we would hypothesize that it was due to Aussie/Kiwi cross-trading - buying the Aussie and selling the Kiwi,'' he said.
He said the New Zealand dollar had sold off in part due to concerns about the economic impact of a drought which now covers the country's entire north island.
Mr Speizer said the Australian dollar was likely to continue to rally over the next few days.
“There is short-term positive momentum in the Aussie so I think it can go up another half a US cent.''
