The Australian dollar erased losses versus the US counterpart today as the government report showed that the value of new capital expenditures made by private businesses increased in the first quarter of this year.

The seasonally adjusted estimate for total new capital expenditure rose 3.4 percent in the first three months of 2011, following the increase by 1.5 percent it the previous quarter. The forecast value was 2.8 percent. The positive data caused investors to increase bets that the Reserve Bank of Australia will raise interest rates this year.

AUD/USD advanced to 1.0589 from 1.0530 as of 15:26 GMT today, following the jump to 1.0623.

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