Weak economic data from Beijing set a nervous tone for trading in the Australian dollar on Thursday.

Concerns that slowing growth in China’s manufacturing sector will hit demand for metals produced in Australia put downward pressure on the country’s currency.

The Aussie dollar has previously proved resistant to attempts this week from the Reserve Bank of Australia to talk the exchange rate down.

But after HSBC’s influential manufacturing PMI survey read 50.3 in August – just above the 50-line that separates expansion from contraction and its first fall in three months – the currency fell 0.2 per cent to $0.9270, after hitting a day low of $0.9239. This took it back to levels last seen in early August when the RBA cut its growth forecasts for the year.

The reduction reflected the impact of lower metals prices, which make up the bulk of Australia’s exports and the subsequent fall for the Aussie dollar took it to a two-month low on August 8.

“It does appear that the Chinese economy has again lost momentum,” said Flemming Nielsen, senior analyst at Danske Bank.

“Both domestic demand and exports appear to have lost some momentum in August. In our view an interest-rate cut could be a real possibility now but it is too early to make that call.”

Wider reaction on currencies markets to the Chinese data were more muted, with attention still tuned to the minutes from the Federal Reserve’s July meeting. The discussion among Open Market Committee members acknowledged that a quickening in jobs growth has moved the labour market – crucial to its considerations on the timing of a rate rise – “noticeably closer to those viewed as normal in the longer run”.

The hawkish tone of the minutes helped the US currency continue to strengthen, with the dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a range of its peers, trading as high as 82.364. That represented its highest reading since August 2013.

Craig Erlam, market analyst at Alpari, said: “It appears that right now, investors are far more concerned with what the Fed is doing than how China is performing. As long as the country is on course for 7.5 per cent growth, which it appears to be, then investors aren’t worried.”

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