Talking Points
- Australian construction data missed estimates badly for the third quarter
- Residential building was just about the only bright spot in the data
- However, the Australian Dollar market remained in reasonable heart
The Australian Dollar’s modest comeback remained in play on Wednesday despite some woeful official data out of the construction sector.
The value of Construction Work Done was estimated to have fallen 4.9% in the year’s third quarter compared to the second, seasonally adjusted. This was much worse than both the 1.6% fall markets had been looking for and the 3.1% slide reported the quarter before.
The only bright spot in the data came from residential building, which managed a 6.3% increase over the quarter, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said.
However, engineering construction fell a massive 23.2%.
AUD/USD was at 0.7404 after the numbers, not much moved from the 0.7402 it was hovering at before the release.
The Australian Dollar has endured a torrid few sessions this week, hitting a five-month low against the greenback on Monday amid general US Dollar strength pinned on the “Trump trade”.
However, the Aussie has shown a little more pep since as the markets digest post-US election volatility.
Still bouncing back: AUD/USD (5min chart)
Chart compiled using TradingView
--- Written by David Cottle, DailyFX Research
