Pound in fresh advances against Australian dollar; trend lower for AUD appears to be intact
The pound sterling to Australian dollar is 0.56 pct higher at 1.6477.
The euro Australian dollar rate is 0.68 pct higher at 1.4018.
The Australian dollar to US dollar exchange rate is 0.67 pct up at 0.9433.
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"Sterling continues to test the upside against the AUD amid soft Chinese data," says Richard Driver at Caxton FX, "Sterling is still trending higher against the AUD and has already tested the 1.65 level this morning."
The Australian currency has been hurt after weak Chinese trade data which saw both exports and imports miss the mark by a wide margin, had a negative impact on AUD/USD.
"Chinese exports rose only 1% versus 7.4% eyed while imports declined -0.3% versus 6.6% projection. The data clearly showed that Chinese demand is slowing and that the skews in prior months data due to manipulation of capital flows are not longer helping to boost the numbers," says Boris Schlossberg at BK Asset Management.
The news weighed on the Aussie at the start of week's trade with the pair dropping through the 9400 figure against the US dollar, but it has since recovered 
rebounding to 9430 in mid morning European dealing.
"The Aussie remains under tremendous selling pressure with sentiment against the currency still extremely negative, but much like USD/JPY last week, the pair may now be entering bargain hunting territory and could find some support at these levels," says Schlossberg.
New Zealand dollar taking a beating
"The kiwi dollar is still taking a beating as international developments dictate sentiment," says Driver. (See latest tech forecasts for the NZD here).
The New Zealand Prime Minister is understandably celebrating the sharp fall in the NZD over the past fortnight or so, though still noted that the currency is still overvalued.
Firmer US data was no positive for the NZD, while weak Chinese data pushed the NZD lower still.
"We look forward to the RBNZ’s monthly meeting on Wednesday evening and there is a chance for some respite for the NZD, as we think they could be a bit more hawkish this month. This pair is trading at 1.97," says Driver.