Aussie almost a cent higher against the USD

The Australian dollar gained almost a cent against the greenback overnight after soft data caused the USD to weaken.

The Aussie failed to find support in the improved current account deficit yesterday. The deficit narrowed to $12.64 billion in June and the March quarter was also revised downwards. The AUD was kept lower due to softer credit growth and a slump in building approvals.

After closing at 0.7467, the Aussie drifted lower to 0.7456 before data in the New York session helped the Aussie strengthen against the USD. The Chicago purchasing management index fell in August, showing a drop in business conditions. At around the same time the price of gold rose by US
 
$2.60, which helped the Aussie to spike and reach 0.7558. So far this morning it has held on to most of these gains.

The major cross rates did not follow the Aussie, they are all slightly lower this morning.

After the poor secondary data release overnight, the market is speculating that the rest of the US figures out this week could help the Aussie push higher. It will gain direction from tonight's ISM
 
manufacturing data and Friday night's non farm payroll figures.