The Australian dollar pushed higher as traders moved back into risk assets ahead of the G20 meetings.
At the local close of trade, the dollar was buying 98.42 US cents, up from Thursday’s close of 98.23 US cents.
Nomura Australia economist Stephen Roberts said investors were anticipating a lacklustre result from the G20 meeting in South Korea over the weekend. This had lent support to the Australian dollar.
‘‘The Australian dollar should come out of that looking pretty good,’’ Mr Roberts said.
He said the release of local data showing exports had improved could have ‘‘helped a bit’’.
‘‘Export prices were stronger than just about all of us expected and the terms of trade is clearly on the move again and the CPI forecast for next week, coming in on average at a level which could mean the Reserve Bank hikes in November,’’ Mr Roberts said.
Economists expect third quarter inflation figures to come in around the upper end of the central bank’s target band, making a November rate rise highly likely.
The consumer price index (CPI), the key measure of inflation, is expected to have risen by 0.8 in the September quarter for an annual rate of 2.9 per cent.
‘‘All of those factors are just giving a little bit of support to the Australian dollar,’’ Mr Roberts said.
He said investors were waiting to see what came out of the G20 meeting.
‘‘If there’s not much sign of coordinated policies in that meeting, I suspect that we’re probably more likely to move a bit higher than lower.’’
AAP