Australian dollar undermined by falling risk appetite

The Australian dollar weakened against the pound yesterday, as the rally in risk demand stalled with equity markets and commodity prices both falling.

• After a week of improving market sentiment investor focus is starting to turn back to economic fundamentals.
  
• Economic data has not yet matched the improvement in sentiment and could prove a reality check to markets in terms of how long it will take for economies to start to recover.
  
• Investors locally will focus on the Australian Federal budget figures due at 10.30 BST today
  
• The UK also sees a raft of economic data released today, including industrial and manufacturing figures along with the country's trade balance data.