Another day and the Aussie dollar broke out of its narrow pattern to surge past 93 US cents and remain there.
The currency had traded in the range of just over 89 US cents to just over 92 cents for weeks now. It occasionally jumped over 93 cents, but eased quickly.
In keeping with that pattern, it fell to 92.60 US cents yesterday and kept going in offshore trading in Europe and then the US.
It stayed above the 93 cent mark to end around 93.60.
That was after it hit 93.66 early today, which was yet another five month high.
That put it up one US cent in less than 24 hours trading as so-called ‘risk on’ investing reappeared on most global markets.
The local stockmarket eased all day after the sell-down on Wall Street and other Asian markets played catch up as they weakened as well.
The better night of trading overnight on global markets saw the SPI futures contract gain more than 20 points – meaning a positive start to trading today.
Wall Street had a better day as bargain hunting pushed the tech heavy Nasdaq higher.
The Nasdaq ended up 0.8% as buyers returned to some of the stocks that had fallen sharply in the past week or so.
The Dow edged up 0.1% and the S&P 500 ended up 0.4%.
Gold jumped past $US1,300 an ounce and ended on $US1,308 an ounce. Oil rose to a month’s high of more than $US102 a barrel in New York.
While Wall Street remains fragile, it hasn’t sapped the appetite for new floats.
Thirteen companies are expected to debut on US markets this week, so the recent sell off hasn’t hit confidence. They will raise more than $US4.7 billion.
