The Australian dollar has historically been highly correlated with the price of crude oil. Which might appear counterintuitive given the relatively small quantity of Australian crude oil production, and the market mantra that foreign exchange rates are all about interest rate differentials. If you understand how Australian LNG exports are priced, and how Australian LNG export contracts differ to North American LNG, then the relationship makes more sense from an empirical and theoretical basis. If this relationship between the Aussie dollar and crude oil prices continues into the future, it allows investors and speculators to reduce their emphasis on future Australian residential housing prices and/or RBA interest rate changes (provided, of course, that you have strong views on the future of crude oil prices)
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