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Australian Dollar

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Australian Dollar


Down 24%

For five years, the Australian dollar couldn't be stopped. Earlier this year, the Aussie (which at the start of 2002 was worth only U.S. 51¢) was approaching an important psychological threshold of parity with the U.S. currency. Those days are long gone, though. After a long economic boom, the Royal Bank of Australia is now in recession-fighting mode. The central bank on Nov. 4 announced a 75-basis-point cut in interest rates, following a full percentage point cut in October.