Australian Dollar Rises on Upbeat Retail Data, Yen at Three-Decade Highs

The Australian dollar edged up against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday as domestic data on retail spending surprised on the upside, but gains were capped by a weak Chinese yuan. The kiwi, however, struggled to pull up from a key chart level. The Aussie rose 0.1% to $0.6675, building on a 0.1% gain overnight but remaining within its recent trading range of $0.6576 to $0.6705. It climbed 0.2% to 107.87 yen, just a touch below its 33-year top of 107.93 yen hit two days ago. The kiwi dollar was flat at $0.6078, after finishing the previous session little changed. Earlier, a private survey showed the expansion in the services sector in China was losing steam. Australian retail sales showed a 0.6% increase for May, beating market forecasts of 0.2%. We’ll be looking at the next retail sales print (due 30 July) to gauge whether there is any meaningful upward momentum in today’s result, said analysts at ANZ. If the June retail data are strong, inflation comes in higher than the RBA’s forecasts and the labour market remains resilient, there is a chance the RBA could hike in August. As a seasoned journalist for our leading worldwide news agency, your task is to meet the following criteria.