A risk-sensitive currency, the Aussie dollar faced a tough week as market concerns over Covid-19’s new variant, Omicron, grew.
Previously, Australia planned to lift restrictions at its border on skilled migrants and students from 1 December.
However, on Monday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said they would review the proposal after the country reported the first case of the Omicron coronavirus variant.
On Sunday, two individuals arriving in Sydney from South Africa were reportedly infected with the variant virus. Following that, the government ordered a 14 -day quarantine for citizens who had just returned from six African countries.
Omicron, dubbed the ‘anxiety variant’ by the World Health Organization (WHO), is potentially more contagious than previous variants. However, health experts still do not know whether it will make Covid-19 worse than other variants.
Global stock markets were hit hard by these concerns, and also weighed on these risk -sensitive currencies, coupled with the gloomy outlook for economic growth in the third quarter which is expected to contract, according to a Reuters survey.
At the start of the European session, the Aussie dollar traded slightly higher from a nearly 3 -month low against the US dollar, trading at around 0.71400.
