Media Release Trade-weighted Index

The Bank has revised the weights for currencies included in the trade-weighted index (TWI) of the Australian dollar. The revisions reflect changes in the composition of Australia's trade in 2001/02.

The new and old weights are shown in the table below. The number of currencies included in the TWI remains unchanged at 23. There has been an increase in the weight of European currencies, a fall in the weight of North American currencies, and little change in the aggregate weight of Asian currencies. Within Asia, there was an increase in the weight of China and a fall in that of Japan. The Japanese yen nonetheless continues to have the largest single weight (17.2 per cent) followed by the US dollar at 15.1 per cent.

The new weights take effect from 1 October 2002.