Australian dollar under pressure

Australian dollar under pressure

Market participants are fretting about a new covid variant identified in South Africa and it's led to widespread risk aversion.

AUD/USD has been struggling for weeks but with today's fresh fear, it's broken the September low and is now down 33 pips to 0.7156.

Next is the August low of 0.7106, which was the height of the panic about covid in Australia and the series of lockdowns there.

What's especially instructive is that the selling has continued even after October retail sales crushed expectations by rising 4.9% against the 2.5% consensus. That offered a brief reprieve but commodities are sagging broadly, including oil which is down $1.39 in New York.