Australian Dollar Stronger for Now

The Australian dollar closed the Asian forex trading day stronger today brought about by gains in local and regional stockmarkets as well as economic data released today. The Australian economy grew by 1.0 percent in the fourth quarter, lifting on year growth to 2.8 percent from 2.2 percent in the third quarter. Strong spending, construction and mining activity gave the economy a boost. Growth was expected by the market to be 0.6 percent. Assistant Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Governor Malcolm Edey told a business conference that the world economic outlook was strong with Europe and Asia ready to pick up the slack should the U.S. economy slow. Edey said the long-term prospects for growth in Asia were rich with both China and India set for decades of stellar expansion.