Dollar back above US96c, and parity on the way: Economy roundup

The Australian dollar has this morning resumed its upward climb after a few days of easing, and according to one analyst could be on its way to parity with the US dollar.

The Australian dollar was trading at US96.19c at 12.25pm after floating below the US96c mark for most of yesterday.

And according to a Goldman Sachs analysis, reported by Bloomberg, if the Aussie can burst through the US96.5c in coming days parity might not be far away.

“Prices have so far been capped at 96.5 cents, but a close above would signal acceleration and target parity,” Goldman Sachs analyst Kevin Edgeley told Bloomberg.

On the markets today, at midday the S&P/ASX 200 is up 0.2% to 5719.5, with both the financial and resources sectors experiencing something of a bounce back after weakness in recent days.

And a new Standard & Poor’s survey shows the number of home owners who were unable to meet their mortgage repayments increased in February.

Christmas spending and interest rate rises saw the number of late payments on conventional mortgages increase to 1.28%, the highest level in 11 months, Standard & Poor’s Prime Australian Mortgage Performance index shows.