AUDUSD Movement
For the 24 hours to 23:00 GMT, the AUD rose 0.47% against the USD and closed at 0.7198.
In economic news, Australia’s AiG performance of construction index declined for the second consecutive month to a level of 46.3 in January, touching its lowest level since February 2015, following a reading of 46.8 in the previous month.
LME Copper prices rose 2.33% or $106.5/MT to $4685.0/MT. Aluminium prices rose 1.19% or $18.0/MT to $1532.0/MT.
Early morning data indicated that the nation’s seasonally adjusted retail sales unexpectedly remained flat on a monthly basis in December, against market forecasts for an increase of 0.4%.
Separately, the RBA in its monetary policy statement remained upbeat about the domestic economy but lowered its forecast for inflation in the near-term. It projected the Australian economy to grow at an average rate of 2.5% in 2016 and 3.0% in 2017 and also forecasted a continued decline in unemployment.
In the Asian session, at GMT0400, the pair is trading at 0.7184, with the AUD trading 0.2% lower from yesterday’s close.
The pair is expected to find support at 0.7150, and a fall through could take it to the next support level of 0.7116. The pair is expected to find its first resistance at 0.7232, and a rise through could take it to the next resistance level of 0.7279.
Going forward, market participants will look forward to Australia’s new home sales and business confidence data, slated to be released next week.
The currency pair is trading between its 20 Hr and 50 Hr moving averages.
