Australian Dollar Jumps after Election Surprise, Yen Edges Lower

The Australian Dollar jumped up against the greenback on Monday after a shocking election victory by the country’s conservative government. The yen eased as risk appetite improved slightly.

The Aussie dollar was last up 0.7% at $0.6916, having bounced from a four-month trough of $0.6865. Earlier quoted as high as $0.6990 but was later declared the actual transacted peak at $0.6938.

The rebound in currency came after Australian prime minster Scott Morrison’s centre-right Liberal National Coalition scripted an astonishing win in federal elections, beating the center-left labor party who had been tipped to win.

Analysts describe the positive impact of the election result on the economic outlook as some had feared a win for the less business-friendly centre-left Labor Party could have destabilized growth.