The RBA has released its commodity price index for October, which registered a 2.4% fall SDR (currency weighted) terms – the key determinant of the terms-of-trade – as well as a 0.9% decrease in Australian dollar terms:
Preliminary estimates for October indicate that the index declined by 2.4 per cent (on a monthly average basis) in SDR terms, after decreasing by 0.6 per cent in September (revised). A decrease in the iron ore price more than offset increases in thermal and coking coal prices. The rural subindex and base metals subindex both increased in the month. In Australian dollar terms, the index decreased by 0.9 per cent in October.
