The AUD has kicked off the week with a bang.

And if the current uptrend continues, it looks likely to break through the US80c mark — for the first time since last September — sooner rather than later.

Here’s today price action on a five-minute chart, via Investing.com:

While that recent strength against the greenback has partly been driven by sustained US dollar weakness, the Aussie was higher today against all the major trading pairs.

According to AxiTrader’s Greg McKenna, the outlook for commodities is helping to underpin the Aussie’s recent strength.

“The AUD has risen alongside its commodity bloc cousins — the Kiwi and CAD — on the back of what has been a solid day of gains for base metals, particularly copper which is up close to 2% today,” McKenna said.

“Throw that in with the performance of the basic materials sector on our ASX 200 with a 1.09% gain and the backdrop remains positive for the Aussie.”

As evidence mounts that the global economic upswing continues to gain momentum, the outlook for commodity prices also remains bright.

“This is an old-fashioned commodity driven rally in the indicators of global growth, of which copper and the Aussie dollar at at the forefront of traders and investors minds,” McKenna said.

This chart from AxiTrader shows the strong recent connection between the AUD and growth in the component of the MSCI global stock index comprised of metals and mining stocks:

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