Weights for the TWI

New weights for the trade-weighted index (TWI) of the Australian dollar will apply from 3 December 2012. The weights are based on the country composition of Australia's merchandise goods and services trade for the 2011/12 financial year. The new index includes the same 21 currencies as the previous index, with the regions associated with these currencies accounting for just over 90 per cent of trade in 2011/12. The Chinese renminbi and Japanese yen remain the first and second-ranked currencies in the index, with increases in both their weights. The weight on the US dollar has also increased, and it replaces the euro as the third-ranked currency in the index. Overall, changes in the weights in this update have generally been smaller than in recent years. See ‘TWI – Method of Calculation’ for a description of the methodology used for constructing the TWI.