Aussie back above 76 cents

The Australian dollar pushed higher against the USD overnight after the market reduced it's expectations for further US interest rate hikes this year.

Yesterday's release of local private capital expenditure had little impact on the currency market. The expenditure rose by 7.3% in June compared to a forecast increase of 3.5%. The Aussie closed the local session around 0.7547.

The USD has come under pressure recently from soft data. Overnight, the US institute for Supply Management released the manufacturing index. It had fallen to 53.6 in August, much lower than the expected 57.0. Hurricane Katrina is also contributing to a weaker USD, as it is expected to have a heavily impact on the economy. This may force the Fed to hold the current interest rate until the economy   The Aussie steadily rose overnight and reached 0.7610, where it has opened today.

The AUD underperformed against all the other majors with the exception of the Yen, which managed to gain half a Yen.

The much awaited US non-farm payroll data is release tonight. The Aussie willneed a weak result to push above back towards 0.7550.