(Bloomberg) -- It's been a bad week for Australian dollar bulls. And looks like the pain won't end here.
The currency slid to its lowest in almost three months Friday as Reserve Bank of Australia board member Ian Harper was reported as saying he is not ruling out a rate cut. That followed losses suffered Thursday due to an unexpected decline in August retail sales, and on Tuesday when the RBA said growth and inflation may slow if the Aussie keeps rising.
The nation's economic surprise index has already slipped below zero for the first time since April, with data on business confidence to inflation expectations due over the next week.
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The Aussie has fallen 1.1 percent since Sept. 29, heading for a fourth straight weekly decline. Any repricing of the central bank's future policy path could spell more trouble for leveraged funds that sat on 82,959 contracts of long positions as of Sept. 26, near the largest level since 2013.
To contact the reporter on this story: Masaki Kondo in Singapore at mkondo3@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tan Hwee Ann at hatan@bloomberg.net, Shikhar Balwani, Nicholas Reynolds
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