8m agoTue 27 Jan 2026 at 11:18pmMarket snapshotASX 200: +0.4% at 8,973 points
Australian dollar: -0.2% to 69.99 US centsWall Street: Dow Jones (-0.8%), S&P 500 (+0.4%), Nasdaq (+0.9%)Europe: FTSE (+0.6%), DAX (-0.2%), Stoxx 600 (+0.6%)
Spot gold: -0.4% to $US5,167/ounce Oil (Brent crude): +3.2% to $US67.70/barrel
Iron ore: flat at $US105.65/tonneBitcoin: +0.2% to $US89,193
ASX 200: +0.4% at 8,973 pointsPrices current around 10:15am AEDT
Just nowTue 27 Jan 2026 at 11:25pmRBA issue impacted PEXA property settlements
Regarding Payments through RBA having an issue – there’s definitely an issue, about 2pm yesterday PEXA property settlements locked and froze and havent settled. They’re still frozen this morning and havent gone through. Check the PEXA Network and Integration status webpage for their response
– Josh
Thanks for letting us know Josh — the PEXA website indeed confirms they had an issue with some property settlements yesterday, which they attribute to the RBA.
They say it is now resolved.
“We can confirm the payment file response issue impacting Reserve Bank of Australia and their transactions is now resolved,” a message on the PEXA website reads.
“While the majority of impacted workspaces have settled as expected, there were some workspaces which were unable to complete.
“These will complete this morning (28/1/2026).There is no action for those affected at this stage.
“We understand this is an unfortunate outcome and acknowledge the inconvenience this has caused you and your customers.
“We reiterate that this was not a PEXA issue and we continue to work closely with the Reserve Bank and our partners to complete all settlements.”
2m agoTue 27 Jan 2026 at 11:23pmAussie dollar slips below 70 US cents
Unsurprisingly, there was a little bit of profit-taking amongst currency traders this morning.
The Australian dollar has fallen 0.2% to 69.97 US cents.
Earlier today, it flew to a three-year high, hitting 70.16 US cents at its peak.
Now let’s see what the ABS inflation figures show in just over an hour.
If inflation is higher-than-expected, that will increase the chances of an interest rate hike — and higher rates tend to boost the currency’s value.
10m agoTue 27 Jan 2026 at 11:16pmASX begins its day with 0.4 per cent rise
The Australian share market has followed a mostly positive lead from Wall Street and started its day higher.
The ASX 200 was up 0.4% to 8,976 points by 10:15am AEDT.
The broader All Ordinaries index rose 0.3% to 9,300 points.
I’ll have more updates for you shortly.
Thank you for your attention to this matter!
31m agoTue 27 Jan 2026 at 10:55pmUS dollar sinks to four-year low, as British pound and euro climb
One way to measure the greenback’s strength is the US dollar index, which is often abbreviated to “DXY”.
It basically tracks the US dollar’s performance against a basket of currencies, including the euro, Japanese yen, British pound, Canadian dollar, Swedish krona and Swiss franc.
The DXY fell 1.3% overnight, its steepest single-day drop in a while. That takes its value down to 95.8 points, its weakest level since March 2022.
Now let’s look at how individual currencies performed against the US dollar.
The British pound jumped 0.8%, its highest since October 2021.
The euro also rose 0.8% to its highest since June 2021.
And to recap, the Australian dollar jumped 1.4% to 70.1 US cents, its strongest since February 2023 (ie, a three-year high).
36m agoTue 27 Jan 2026 at 10:50pm
Are you experiencing payments processing issues?
David, is the ABC aware of any current payment system issues at the Reserve Bank?
We’re experiencing > 24-hour delays on business payroll and supplier payments lodged with our bank yesterday morning. ANZ says this is a known RBA issue with potential delays of up to five days, yet there’s no public information from either ANZ or the RBA. Are you hearing similar reports?
– Shane
Morning Shane, I haven’t heard anything but have enquired with the RBA and ANZ and will let you know what they say on the matter.
Are any other blog readers experiencing payments processing issues?
Let us know in the comments ⬆️
1h agoTue 27 Jan 2026 at 10:22pmAustralian dollar also stronger against Japanese yen and other currencies
Not everything revolves around America, believe it or not.
As I mentioned earlier, the Australian dollar surged to 70.1 US cents — after a 1.4% jump this morning!
The US dollar has dropped to a four-year low on expectations the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates at least twice this year.
On top of that, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is expected to lift the cash rate by the middle of this year, according to market pricing.
So the widening differentials between US and Australian interest rates has provided a major boost to the local currency.
The Australian dollar was higher against major currencies overnight. (LSEG)
But not everyone will want to fly to the United States to take advantage of that better exchange rate. In fact, there are many reasons why it might be safer to travel elsewhere at the moment.
The Aussie dollar also jumped against the Indonesian rupiah and Chinese yuan overnight.
It’s also sitting at multi-year highs against the New Zealand and Japanese currencies.
It’s mainly due to weakness in the NZ economy and expectations the Japanese government will unleash a wave of stimulus measures (which is weakening the yen).
1h agoTue 27 Jan 2026 at 10:07pmGreenback tanks as Trump says ‘dollar is doing great’
Here is a visual representation of the moves we’ve seen on currency markets in the last few hours.
The US dollar index, which is the greenback against a basket of currencies, took a dive:
US dollar index (LSEG Refinitiv)
As a result, the Australian dollar took another leg up and surged past 70 US cents, to its highest levels since early 2023:
AUDUSD (LSEG Refinitiv)
At the time of the move, US President Donald Trump was addressing reporters.
When asked if the value of the US dollar had declined too much he said it was “doing great”, according to Reuters.
“I think it’s great, the value of the dollar,” the US President said.
Of course, the Trump administration, which has been preoccupied with America’s trade deficit, would know that a lower greenback makes US goods cheaper overseas.
1h agoTue 27 Jan 2026 at 9:53pm
Alan Kohler on gold, silver and the US dollar
Are you interested in hearing more about what’s been driving up the gold and silver price, and why the US dollar has been so weak lately?
If so, I can certainly recommend Alan Kohler’s finance report from last night’s 7pm News bulletin.
It’s a great way to quickly catch up on what’s been happening before the Australian share market opens for business in just over an hour!
Loading…1h agoTue 27 Jan 2026 at 9:39pmWall Street mixed: record high for S&P 500 as Dow Jones tumbles
Wall Street has finished trading and it’s a mixed bag.
The S&P 500 rose 0.4% to close at 6,976 points, which is a new record high for the benchmark US index.
Those gains were driven by some of America’s “Magnificent Seven” tech stocks which have invested heavily in artificial intelligence (AI) — including Nvidia (+1.1%), Apple (+1.1%), Microsoft (+2.2%) and Amazon (+2.2%).
It’s currently earnings season in America and the tech giants are expected to unveil impressive quarterly profits.
Meta, Microsoft and Tesla are due to announce their financial results on Thursday morning (Australian time).
Apple is schedule to share its results on Friday (Australian time).
Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite jumped 0.9% to 23,817 points.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, however, fell 0.8% to 49,003 points.
Along with a decline of 1.6% in Boeing’s share price, the Dow Jones was also dragged down by an almost 20% plunge in the value of UnitedHealth’s stock.
The health insurance giant forecast its revenue this year would shrink.
It’s also partly because the Trump administration announced a lower-than-expected Medicare reimbursement proposal for 2027.
That development led to a sell-off in shares of other insurers like CVS (-14.2%) and Humana (21.1%).
2h agoTue 27 Jan 2026 at 9:26pmASX to open higher, silver surges 8 per cent
While it has been a very strong day for gold and the Australian dollar, the ASX should also perform reasonably well today.
ASX futures are pointing to a 0.4% gain when the local share market opens for trading in about two hours.
Given the price of gold has surged more than 3% overnight to another record high, you can certainly expect gold miners to be among today’s best-performing stocks.
Silver surge
Meanwhile, spot silver has jumped 8% to $US112 an ounce.
Its value has skyrocketed over the past year. Perhaps it’s not quite “gold’s poorer cousin” any more.
It’s crazy when you consider the price of silver was fetching $US30 an ounce exactly one year ago. So it has almost quadrupled since then!
Basically, silver has been on the rise due to supply shortages and rising industrial and investor demand.
It also received a major boost last year when the US government added silver to a list of what it considered to be “critical minerals”.
2h agoTue 27 Jan 2026 at 9:09pmGold surges above $US5,100 to another new record
Speaking of which, the gold price also hit a new record, passing $US5,100 for the first time ever.
To be precise, it’s trading at $US5,181 per troy ounce, after a 3.3% jump this morning.
If you’re paying with Australian dollars, that’s $7,396 for just 31 grams of the yellow metal!
Gold has already surged by around 20% since the year began (and it’s not even February yet).
Basically, it’s being driven higher by rising geopolitical and economic uncertainty and expectations of the US Federal Reserve cutting interest rates this year.
The de-dollarisation trend is also playing a part. Essentially, central banks across the world have been stockpiling the precious metal to reduce their reliance on US dollar reserves.
Poland, China, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan have been some of the biggest buyers of gold in the past few years.
2h agoTue 27 Jan 2026 at 8:57pm
Market snapshotASX futures: +0.5% to 8,942 pointsASX 200 (Tuesday close): +0.9% at 8,942 pointsAustralian dollar: +1.3% at 70.1 US centsWall Street: Dow Jones (-0.9%), S&P 500 (+0.5%), Nasdaq (+1%)Europe: FTSE (+0.6%), DAX (-0.2%), Stoxx 600 (+0.6%)
Spot gold: +2% to $US5,114/ounce Oil (Brent crude): +2.7% to $US67.40/barrel
Iron ore: flat at $US105.65/tonneBitcoin: +0.5% to $US88,448
Prices current around 7:50am AEDT
2h agoTue 27 Jan 2026 at 8:56pm
Australian dollar surges to 70 US cents, its highest level since February 2023
Hello and welcome to the ABC’s finance blog! I’ll be your guide for the next few hours.
One of the first things I noticed was the sharp rise in the Australian dollar this morning. Its value has jumped 1.3% to 70.1 US cents.
It’s mainly because the US dollar fell overnight to a four-year low — with President Donald Trump’s erratic policymaking and concerns about Federal Reserve independence making investors very nervous about America’s economy.
The last time the Aussie dollar was this strong was back in mid-February 2023 (ie almost three years ago). So it’s a great time for those wanting to do some online shopping from overseas!
Now, whether it stays at this level will depend on the ABS’s latest inflation figures, which will be released at 11:30am AEDT.
Economists are expecting consumer prices to have risen by 0.7% in the December quarter (which would bring the annual increase to 3.5%).
If the actual inflation result is better than that (ie lower-than-expected inflation), the Reserve Bank would be more likely to keep interest rates on hold at its board meeting on 3-4 February.
Currently, markets are pricing in a 60% chance of a rate hike next week, with that probability rising as the months go by.
Anyway, sit back, grab a coffee or tea and I’ll be back with more updates shortly!