The Australian dollar has now reached its lowest point since January, now trading at just $US1.02c.
The low point comes after the Spanish Government only achieved the bottom end of its financial targets with the sale of $3.35 billion worth of bonds in an auction.
Most offshore markets have lost ground overnight, with US equities down 1% and commodities also falling as well.
The Australian sharemarket has opened lower this morning after fears continued to grow over the financial security of the eurozone following a Spanish bond auction.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 31.9 points or 0.7% to 4,302 at 11.40 AEST.
In the United States, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 124 points to 13,074.75.
Paper and packaging group Amcor has purchased a tobacco packaging plant in Mexico for $US40 million.
The acquisition of the Aluprint plant gives the company a significant presence in the country, it said, after purchasing a packaging operation in Argentina as well.
The plant was built in 2009 at a cost of $US40 million with sales of more than $US30 million.
Australia’s trade deficit came in at $480 million in February, according to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Exports of goods and services were down by 2.1% while imports were down by 3.9%, narrowing the trade deficit but not making it go away.
It was the second month in a row that the trade balance was in deficit, after a deficit of $971 million in January.
The trade balance had been in the black for 20 of the previous 21 months, from April 2010 to December 2011 – the exception being flood-affected February 2011.
Former Westfield group chief financial officer Marlon Teperson has jointed Centro Retail as the company’s chief financial officer, replacing interim CFO Chris Nunn.
Teperson has worked as a consultant in the industry for several years.
Andrew Sadauskas is a former journalist at SmartCompany and a former editor of TechCompany.
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