MEDIA RELEASE No: 2003-13 Date: 30 September 2003 Embargo: For Immediate Release

TRADE-WEIGHTED INDEX

The Bank has revised the weights for currencies included in the trade-weighted index (TWI) of the Australian dollar. This reflects changes in the composition of Australia's merchandise trade in 2002/03. The new weights take effect from 1 October 2003.

The new and old weights are shown in the table below. The number of currencies included in the TWI will fall to 22 from 23 as the United Arab Emirates dirham will drop out. Similar to last year, there will be an increase in the combined weight of European currencies, a fall in the weight of North American currencies, and little change in the aggregate weight of Asian currencies. Of the Asian currencies, the largest changes will be an increase in the weight of the Chinese renminbi and a fall in the weight of the Japanese yen. Despite this fall, the Japanese yen will continue to have the largest single weight of 16.6 per cent.

Enquiries:
Manager, Media Office
Information Department
Reserve Bank of Australia
SYDNEY

Phone: +61 2 9551 9720
Fax:     +61 2 9551 8033
E-mail:  rbainfo@rba.gov.au

Weights in the Trade-Weighted Index
(per cent)

Currency	Trade Weight
	current	previous
Japanese yen	16.5723	17.2058
United States dollar	14.3079	15.0681
European euro	13.6408	12.3981
Chinese renminbi	9.8371	8.5754
South Korean won	6.0385	6.5588
New Zealand dollar	5.7259	5.5689
UK pound sterling	5.6645	5.1365
Singapore dollar	3.9300	4.0090
New Taiwan dollar	3.3491	3.5887
Indonesian rupiah	3.2685	3.2399
Malaysian ringgit	2.7900	2.8733
Thai baht	2.5910	2.3356
Hong Kong dollar	1.9361	2.4360
Canadian dollar	1.5555	1.5743
Indian rupee	1.5476	1.5280
Saudi Arabian riyal	1.4270	1.6315
Vietnamese dong	1.2964	1.0583
PNG kina	1.0682	0.9588
South African rand	1.0338	0.9971
Swedish krona	0.8796	0.8310
Philippine peso	0.8404	0.8454
Swiss franc	0.6998	0.6875