AUDUSD Movement
For the 24 hours to 23:00 GMT, the AUD declined 0.25% against the USD and closed at 0.7222.
LME Copper prices declined 0.3% or $21.0/MT to $6076.5/MT. Aluminium prices declined 1.7% or $32.5/MT to $1840.0/MT.
In the Asian session, at GMT0400, the pair is trading at 0.7253, with the AUD trading 0.43% higher against the USD from yesterday’s close.
Overnight data showed that Australia’s seasonally adjusted trade surplus widened to A$3681.0 million in December, beating market expectations for a surplus of A$2225.0 million. In the preceding month, the nation had posted a surplus of A$1925.0 million.
On the other hand, Australia’s seasonally adjusted retail sales unexpectedly eased 0.4% on a monthly basis in December, defying market expectations for an unchanged reading. Retail sales had recorded a rise of 0.4% in the previous month. Moreover, the nation’s AIG performance of services index declined to a level of 44.3 in January, compared to a reading of 52.1 in the prior month. Moreover, the CBA services PMI fell to a level of 51.0 in January, compared to a level of 52.7 in the previous month.
Separately, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) in its February monetary policy meeting, decided to hold its interest rate steady at 1.5%, as widely expected, amid weak labour market and slow economic growth. The central bank trimmed its annual growth outlook to 3% from 3.5% in 2020 and stated that it would require more than estimate duration to reach its inflation target of 2% to 3%.
The pair is expected to find support at 0.7213, and a fall through could take it to the next support level of 0.7174. The pair is expected to find its first resistance at 0.7273, and a rise through could take it to the next resistance level of 0.7294.
Going forward, traders would await the Reserve Bank of Australia’s Governor Philip Lowe’s speech, due overnight.
The currency pair is showing convergence with its 20 Hr and 50 Hr moving averages.
