Forex / Australia & NZ news

VIENNA (Thomson Financial) - Austria's exports in 2007 are likely to rise around 9 pct year-on-year despite the challenges posed by a stronger Euro, according to the Austrian Institute for Economic Research (Wifo).The Austrian daily Der Standard cited WIFO researcher Franz Hahn as saying that the impact of the rising Euro on Austria's exports will be comparatively limited as the country's dollar-related exports are dwarfed by those to the Euro-zone...

SYDNEY (Thomson Financial) - The US dollar strengthened against the yen after the Bank of Japan on Thursday kept its overnight call rate target unchanged at 0.5 percent for the sixth straight meeting, as widely expected by the market.At 2.17 pm (0417 GMT) in Sydney, the dollar was trading at 122...

SYDNEY (Thomson Financial) - A smaller-than-expected employment growth of just 2,500 in June should ease the short-term concerns within the Reserve Bank of Australia that the solid jobs growth underway could increase inflationary pressures, according to HSBC Australia and New Zealand chief economist John Edwards...

SYDNEY (Thomson Financial) - Australia's unemployment rate rose to a seasonally adjusted 4.3 percent in June from the record low of 4.2 percent in May, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said Thursday.The market was expecting the jobless rate to have stayed at 4...

SYDNEY (Thomson Financial) - The US dollar was firmer against major currencies in Asian morning trade Thursday with investors awaiting the outcome of the Bank of Japan's policy meeting due later in the day.Currency traders expect the BoJ to remain cautious though not in a hurry to hike interest rates...

SYDNEY (Thomson Financial) - The US dollar dipped against the yen and euro in Asia Wednesday as currency traders remain focused on the US housing market and a heightened risk its weakness could spread to the wider US economy, while carry trades are also under closer scrutiny...

SYDNEY (Thomson Financial) - The US dollar was steady against the yen and slightly firmer against the euro in early Asian trading hours Wednesday after an overnight slump sparked by heightened concerns over the US housing market.The euro set a fresh record high of 1...

SYDNEY (Thomson Financial) - The Westpac Melbourne Institute index of Australian consumer sentiment slipped to a seasonally adjusted 120.8 points in July, down 0.6 percent from 121.5 in June, Westpac said Wednesday.The index was up 12.4 percent higher in July than a year before...

WASHINGTON (AP) - If News Corp.'s proposed $5 billion purchase of Dow Jones&Co. succeeds, antitrust lawyers predict it would sail through regulatory review because Rupert Murdoch's global media empire is not concentrated in any particular product or region...

VIENNA (Thomson Financial) - Austrian Finance Minister Wilhelm Molterer said it is "not impossible" that the country's budget deficit in 2007 will drop to 0.7 pct of GDP, according to a report by Austrian press agency APA.To date, Austria has aimed at reducing its budget deficit for the current year to 0...

SYDNEY (Thomson Financial) - The US dollar was trading in narrow ranges against other major currencies halfway through Asian trading hours Tuesday as players awaited a speech on inflation by Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke later in the day.At 2...

SYDNEY (Thomson Financial) - New Zealand businesses have become more pessimistic about the outlook for the next six months, the New Zealand Institute of Economics Research (NZIER) said Tuesday.The NZIER said its second-quarter survey of business expectations, conducted in June, had revealed that that a seasonally adjusted net balance of 30 percent of companies expected the general business situation to deteriorate in the subsequent six months...

SYDNEY (Thomson Financial) - The number of Australian dwellings financed in May rose a seasonally adjusted 0.1 percent from April to 66,040, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said on Tuesday.The increase was much smaller than what economists had forecast...

SYDNEY (Thomson Financial) - National Australia Bank's (NAB's) index of Australian business confidence, which measures expectations for the subsequent quarter, was unchanged in June from May at 15.0 points, having been 2.0 points higher in May than in April, NAB said Tuesday...

SYDNEY (Thomson Financial) - The US dollar was contained within tight ranges against other major currencies early in Asian trading hours Tuesday as market players awaited new direction.At 9.50 am here (2350 GMT Monday) the dollar was at 123.35 yen, little changed from 123...

SYDNEY (Thomson Financial) - Australia's D&B index of expected sales in the third quarter is at 16 points, 14 points higher than the index for the second quarter, Dun&Bradstreet (D&B) announced here Tuesday.Dun&Bradstreet said the results of its latest survey of business expectations showed that 37 percent of executives surveyed expected an increase in sales, while 21 percent expected a decrease...

VIENNA (Thomson Financial) - The UN atomic agency gave the green light today to send inspectors to North Korea for the first time since 2002 to monitor the communist state's dismantling of its nuclear weapons programme, diplomats said.The International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) 35-nation board of governors approved by consensus a request for a North Korea mission from IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei, the diplomats said...

VIENNA (Thomson Financial) - The Austrian government said it expects the country's real gross domestic product to grow by more than 3 pct in 2007 on strong exports, and stated its goal of achieving a "nearly balanced budget" by 2009.In an economic report presented this morning, Austria's coalition government said that strong export-related growth in the production sector was playing a central role in keeping the country's economy growing at a rate similar to last year's real GDP growth of 3...

SYDNEY (Thomson Financial) - The US dollar was higher against the yen and euro in Asia midafternoon, with carry trades supporting the greenback on reduced chances the US economy will suffer a hard landing following the release on Friday of strong June non-farm payrolls report...

SYDNEY (Thomson Financial) - Job advertisements in newspapers and on the Internet averaged 249,915 per week in June, 0.8 percent fewer than in May but 36.1 percent more than a year earlier, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ANZ) said.The survey for May showed a jump of 0...