The Australian dollar will fall below its American equivalent this year as a slowing economy and less bond buying by the United States Federal Reserve narrow Australia's yield advantage, according to the currency's most-accurate forecaster.
The so-called Aussie will weaken to 99 US cents by December 31, from $1.0484 as of midday trading in Sydney yesterday, according to Bank of New Zealand, which had the lowest margin of error at 2.69 per cent in the past six quarters as tracked by Bloomberg Rankings. The lender is a unit of the Melbourne-based National Australia Bank (NAB).
Ten-year yields are near a seven-week low relative to US Treasuries with swap-market traders betting the Reserve Bank of Australia will cut its 3 per cent overnight cash-rate target to a record by March to help the economy as resources investment slows
Minutes from the Fed's December meeting showed officials expect a probable 2013 end to US$85 billion a month of bond buying that has weakened the greenback.
"Aussie weakness is more a function of the US dollar finding its feet, more so than it being subject to specific weakness of its own," said Ray Attrill, the Sydney-based global co-head of currency strategy at NAB. Still, economic "weakness has become more broad-based in Australia", he added.
The Aussie's top five forecasters are divided on the currency's path for this year.
The currency rose 1.8 per cent last year to US$1.0394, beating strategists' forecast it would decline to $1.01. That advance followed a 45 per cent jump over the previous three years.
It touched 95.82 US cents on June 1, the lowest since October 5, 2011, and one of just 28 days last year it was below parity. The currency first traded above the US currency on October 15, 2010.
* Bloomberg News
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Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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FIXTURES
UAE’s remaining fixtures in World Cup qualification R2
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KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
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In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
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Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
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