Australia Foreign-Exchange Trading Volumes Slump
By ENDA CURRAN at Wall Street Journal
SYDNEY—Daily trading volumes in the Australian foreign-exchange market slumped 23% in October 2011 from April 2011 in U.S. dollar terms, according to data released by the Reserve Bank of Australia on Monday.
Traders said the volumes were hit hard by rolling uncertainty from Europe's spiraling debt crisis as investors feared a break-up of the single currency and a hard default by Greece. The Australian dollar is one of the world's most growth-sensitive assets and slumped in October to a low of US$0.9395, after reaching a postfloat high of US$1.1010 in July as economists downgraded their outlook for world growth.