Australia’s trade surplus widened more than forecast in December, as the local currency reached below 0.72 cents against the US dollar during the month.
The recent rebounce in commodity prices was the main contributor of the trade surplus. AUD has significantly rose to $0.76 during January, which may complicate the country's trade activities this month.
Thursday's data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showed after seasonal adjustments, trade deficit stood at A$3.51 billion in December, against a median estimate forecast the surplus to expand to just over $2 billion.
Exports of goods and services rose at a seasonally adjusted 5% in December, after rising 8% the previous month.
 | | Oct 2016 |
Nov 2016 |
Dec 2016 |
Nov 16 to Dec 16 |
| | $m |
$m |
$m |
% change |
| BALANCE ON GOODS AND SERVICES | | | | | |
| Trend estimates | 322 |
1 277 |
2 193 |
72 |
| Seasonally adjusted | -733 |
2 040 |
3 511 |
72 |
| CREDITS (Exports of goods & services) | | | | | |
| Trend estimates | 29 079 |
30 120 |
31 114 |
3 |
| Seasonally adjusted | 28 137 |
30 951 |
32 630 |
5 |
| DEBITS (Imports of goods & services) | | | | | |
| Trend estimates | 28 757 |
28 843 |
28 921 |
- |
| Seasonally adjusted | 28 870 |
28 911 |
29 120 |
1 |
| - nil or rounded to zero (including null cells) | |||||
