In a busy week, the Australian Bureau of Statistics delivered a series of data that tended towards the low side of expectations. A 1.1% monthly increase in motor vehicle sales wasn’t enough to offset the previous month's -1.4% fall. The wage price index – an indicator of labour cost inflation and tightness in the jobs market – edged down from 3.8% to 3.6% in the third quarter of the year. Average weekly wages provided a counterpoint, accelerating by 5.3% in the year to August after a 4.4% increase in the year to July.

It was investor risk appetite that once again exerted the most influence on the Aussie dollar. Nervousness about the situation in Euroland extends to nervousness about the global economy, and investors are concerned for Australia's economic future. Unless EU leaders can pull something out of the fire, the Australian dollar looks more likely to go down than up.