AUDUSD Movement
For the 24 hours to 23:00 GMT, the AUD strengthened 0.10% against the USD to close at 0.9247.
Late yesterday, the Australian Industry Group (AiG) reported that performance of its service index for Australia fell to a reading of 48.9 in March, from a level of 55.2 in the previous month.
LME Copper prices rose 1.2% or $81.0/MT to $6713.0/MT. Aluminium prices advanced 1.9% or $32.5/MT to $1776.5/MT.
In the Asian session, at GMT0300, the pair is trading at 0.9219, with the AUD trading 0.30% lower from yesterday’s close.
Earlier today, the RBA Governor, Glenn Stevens stated that it would be far too early to know if the Australian economy could withstand a slowdown in mining investment but at the same time also indicated there were promising early signs that things might not turn out “too badly.” Furthermore, he highlighted a medium-term shortage of workers in the economy and urged for fiscal reform in order to spur economic growth in the nation.
On the economic front, data released this morning indicated that the trade surplus in Australia on a seasonally adjusted basis came in at A$1.2 billion in February, surpassing forecasts for a surplus of A$850.0 million and following a revised surplus of A$1.3 billion in January. Meanwhile, retail sales, on a monthly basis, rose 0.2% in February, as compared to a 1.2% rise in the preceding month.
Separately, the Markit/HSBC Services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) in China increased to 51.9 in March from February’s 51.0, while the official services PMI showed a slight dip in the sector’s growth in March to 54.5 from February’s 55.0, but activity remained well in expansion territory.
The pair is expected to find support at 0.9198, and a fall through could take it to the next support level of 0.9176. The pair is expected to find its first resistance at 0.9253, and a rise through could take it to the next resistance level of 0.9286.
The currency pair is trading below its 20 Hr and 50 Hr moving averages.
