The Australian Dollar: An island at the fringe of the crisis
International Trading
An Island At The Fringe Of The Crisis: The Australian Dollar. A Safe Place.
The Australian Dollar is one of the currencies that are gaining popularity with the investors who are looking for alternative investment opportunities because of the negative growing perspectives in Europe and Japan. 
The Aussie is a commodity currency that shows a high level of stability and a low fall danger as it is strictly tied to the values of the world less invaluable elements, the basic commodities, as a consequence it is traditionally considered a possible safe haven in an economic crisis context. All the economies throughout the world need to buy some of the commodities they use and, to purchase them, the importers need to change their money with those of the exporting countries, with a consequent increase of the demand for the latter and of their value.
Australia is the world’s third biggest gold producer and the country also holds a very high amount of uranium reserves. Gold has historically been the investors’ refuge par excellence, while the uranium, with the increasing spread of the nuclear power, shows the potential to become shortly as important as oil or even more. 
The opportunity to use the Australian dollar as a safe haven is related with the national economic situation. The Australian economy has been emerging since several years with an upward trend. At the beginning of August the country’s trade balance strongly surprised, with a A$3.500 million surplus, the exports increased 7% led by a 23% growth in metals and a 15% in coal. Following these results the Aussie advanced reflecting strong optimism and confidence in the mining sector. China is by far the main importer of Australian goods and, as a consequence, the Australian economy and the strength of the national currency are strictly tied to the health and growth of the Asian giant’s economy. Considering that China is leading the global economic recovery, the Australian economic activity can keep improving and increasing in the next months, and this might make the Reserve Bank of Australia raise the interest rate, that is currently 4,5%, with the aim of rebalancing the risks for the economy. It’s also important to highlight that the high interest rates maintained by the Australian Central Bank make the national currency one of the favourite money for carry trade operations.
