Australian dollar hits 28-year high

    CANBERRA, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- The Australian dollar hit a 28 year high as it edged closer to parity¹ with the U.S. dollar, rising to a new post-float record of 99.70 U.S. cents on Thursday morning.
    At 11:15am (AEDT) on Thursday, the local unit was trading at 99. 70 U.S. cents, up more than one U.S. cent from Wednesday local close of 98.46 cents, and its highest point since the currency was floated on December 8, 1983.
    Earlier on Thursday, the Australian dollar had reached as high as 99.34 U.S. cents as gold, oil and other commodities rallied sharply.
    Australia's economy is dependent on (取决于)　the export of commodities and higher commodity prices provide strong support for its currency.
    According to CMC Markets foreign exchange dealer², Tim Waterer, the local unit firmed throughout?on Wednesday Australian time after the U.S. Federal Reserve（储备） indicated that quantitative³ easing measures would be adopted as soon as November.
    "We saw a small uptick in the Australian dollars on the back of the confidence data this morning," Waterer told News.com.au on Thursday. "For the rest of the session it was mainly tracking the gold price higher."
    Westpac chief currency strategist Robert Rennie, now expected the Australian dollars will hit 1.02 U.S. dollars by year's end.（本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑）

1 parity   

n.平价，等价，比价，对等

参考例句：

• The two currencies have now reached parity.这两种货币现已达到同等价值。
• Women have yet to achieve wage or occupational parity in many fields.女性在很多领域还没能争取到薪金、职位方面的平等。

2 dealer   

n.商人，贩子

参考例句：

• The dealer spent hours bargaining for the painting.那个商人为购买那幅画花了几个小时讨价还价。
• The dealer reduced the price for cash down.这家商店对付现金的人减价优惠。

3 quantitative   

adj.数量的，定量的

参考例句：

• He said it was only a quantitative difference.他说这仅仅是数量上的差别。
• We need to do some quantitative analysis of the drugs.我们对药物要进行定量分析。