By | May 27 2010 7:56 PM

Australia: The Australian Dollar has had a strong run overnight to be trading just below USD0.8500 following a positive lead on equity markets. The investor theme turned positive during the local session late yesterday when rumours that China where going to stop buying EURO bonds, which had influenced the market in the previous trading session, where dismissed by the Chinese officials. This news saw demand for the AUD increase as investors increased their risk appetite for higher yielding assets. The AUD was stronger on the cross-rates as well with the AUD/JPY trading above 77.00 while the AUD/EUR and AUD/GBP trading at EUR0.6890 and GBP0.5850 respectively. Base metals ended the session higher on improving US economy expectations while copper trading up 3.0%. Zinc, aluminium and lead also rallied 2.6%, 2.5% and 5.3% respectively. With no local data due for release today, the AUD should follow the positive lead from equity markets, therefore we expect the AUD to hold above the 0.8400 level.