Talking Points
- Another month, another Aussie retail-sales beat
- Sales rose 0.5% in October, when analysts had expected some cooling of the pace
- Aussie Dollar bulls liked what they saw
The Australian Dollar got a lift on Friday as offical retail sales figures beat expectations for a third straight month.
October’s sales rose 0.5% on-month in October, to A$25.62 billion. That’s also the highest monthly total ever recorded. The markets had been looking for a weaker, 0.3% gain expecting some pullback after two strong months. They didn’t get that. Indeed sales over the past three months have now risen by 6.8% compared to the same period last year.
The figures make it pretty clear that consumers are heading into the crucial Christmas spending period with plenty of inclination to splash out.
The Australian Dollar rose quite sharply after the figures. AUD/USD got as high as 0.74300, from around 0.74200 prior to the release.
The numbers injected some life into an Asia/Pacific Friday largely free of major, scheduled ecoomic news which could have left the markets in the mood to sit and wait for the official US labor-market release, which will come after local markets wind down.
Sales up, Aussie up…
How well have DailyFX analysts’ Q4 forecasts measured up with what markets actually did? Take a look here !
--- Written by David Cottle, DailyFX Research
