The Australian dollar rallied higher against its major rivals on Monday morning in Asia as a better than expected economic data from the U.S. last week boosted investors' confidence, spurring demand for higher-yielding assets. The Aussie thus rose to new multi-month highs against the Japanese yen and the US dollar and a 4-day high against the euro.
The stock market in Australia opened on a firm note today with energy and materials posting strong gains in early trading. The benchmark index S&P/ASX 200, which moved on to 3,815 earlier, is currently trading at 3,807, up 37.40 points over its previous close. The All Ordinaries index is trading at 3,776, up 38.10 points over its previous close.
In economic news, the average asking price for a house in Australia was down 2.2 percent in the first quarter of 2009 compared to the previous three months, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said today. Analysts had forecast a flat reading following the revised 1.2 percent quarterly decline in the fourth quarter of 2008. On an annual basis, house prices dropped 6.7 percent after the revised 3.9 percent decline in the previous quarter.
Meanwhile, the TD Securities/Melbourne Institute inflation gauge was unchanged in April, following a 0.1 per cent fall in March. Over the year to April, inflation was up 2.1 per cent and is now testing the lower end of the Reserve Bank of Australia's 2% to 3% target band.
The Australian dollar advanced to 73.59 against the Japanese yen by 11:00 pm ET, the highest point since October 14, 2008. This may be compared to last week's close of 72.56. The aussie that has appreciated more than 9 percent against the yen after hitting a 4-week low of 66.88 on April 28 is currently trading near 73.3.
Against the US dollar, the Australian currency climbed to a multi-month high of 0.7392 around 11:00 pm ET. The aussie-buck pair, which closed last week's trading at 0.7308, is currently quoted at 0.7373.
In economic news from the U.S. on Friday, the Institute for Supply Management said that manufacturing activity continued to contract in April but at a much slower than expected pace. The ISM said its index of activity in the sector rose to 40.1 in April from 36.3 in March, although a reading below 50 indicates a continued contraction in the sector. Economists had been expecting a more modest increase to a reading of 38.4.
Separately, the Reuters/University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index for April was unexpectedly upwardly revised to a reading of 65.1 from the previously reported reading of 61.9.The Commerce Department also released its report on factory orders for March, showing that orders fell by a bigger than expected 0.9 percent following a downwardly revised 0.7 percent increase in February.
The Australian dollar soared to a 4-day high of 1.8065 against the European common currency at about 11:00 pm ET. The euro-aussie pair is currently quoted at 1.8104, compared to Friday's close of 1.8166.
Investors are now looking forward to the European session, in which the German retail sales for March, Swiss SVME-purchasing managers index for April, Italian Producer Price Index for March, Euro-zone Sentix investor confidence for May and the final reading of the Italian, French, German and the euro-zone Purchasing Managers Index for April are slated for release.
The Australian currency also showed strength against the Canadian dollar during early Asian deals on Monday. The aussie advanced to a 4-day high of 0.8731 versus the loonie before losing some ground around 5:45 pm ET. The pair, which closed Friday's trading at 0.8663, is currently worth 0.8704.
The Australian dollar that dropped to a 4-day low of 1.2793 against the New Zealand dollar by 5:15 pm ET reversed direction thereafter and hit as high as 1.2865 around 10:55 pm ET. The aussie-kiwi pair that closed last week's deals at 1.2815 is currently trading near 1.285.
Turning to the U.S., pending home sales and construction spending reports-both for the month of March are slated for release at 10:00 am ET.
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May 22, 2026 14:46 ET Minutes of the latest Fed policy session was the highlight of the week along with survey data on the U.S. housing market. In Europe, survey data signaled the trends in the euro area private sector. Further, consumer price inflation data from the U.K. was in focus. In Asia, various economic indicators from China drew attention to the health of the economy.