2012-11-12 08:02:04Roosevelt

AU Dollar slips back as global concerns linger

The Australian dollar has fallen back amid concerns about the looming debt issues in the United States and the delivery of Greek bailout funds.

 

The dollar was recently trading at $US1.0399, down from $US1.0425 on Friday.

 

Following the re-election of President Barack Obama last week, the fiscal cliff - a series of tax rises and spending cuts due in 2013 - had dominated markets, HiFX senior trader Stuart Ive said.

 

‘‘There are two overriding issues,’’ Mr Ive  said.

 

Advertisement ‘‘One is the fiscal cliff, which the markets have become a lot more focused on now that the election is over.

 

‘‘On Friday, Barack Obama put forward a meeting with House of Representatives leader John Boehner to start sorting this thing out.’’

 

Mr Ive said this announcement had caused investors to move out of risk currencies such as the Australian dollar over the weekend.

 

The second issue is Greece, where a vote on their budget in the next few hours is widely expected to be passed.

 

It would then be up to the European Union to determine whether Greece receives a next tranche of money, which is causing some uncertainty in markets.

 

Greece is due to receive €13.5 billion ($A16.66 billion) as its next tranche of cash.

 

Mr Ive said Australian markets would continue to be swayed by international news for much of this week, with little local data due for release.