Investing.com - The Australian dollar lost ground against its U.S. counterpart during Monday’s Asian session ahead of what is shaping up to be a busy and potentially volatile week for the pair.
In Asian trading Monday, AUD/USD fell 0.22% to 1.0289. The pair is likely to find support at 1.0226, the low from February 12 and resistance at 1.0373, Friday’s high.
With meeting minutes scheduled to be released from several prominent central banks this week, AUD/USD and other Aussie dollar-related pairs could be in focus. The Federal Reserve is scheduled to release minutes from its January meeting on Wednesday while the Reserve Bank of Australia and the BoE are to release the minutes from their latest policy meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.
Later today, Australia will release official data on new vehicle sales, a leading indicator of investor confidence. On Wednesday, the country’s wage data index along with two indexes of leading economic indicators will be published.
On Friday, RBA Governor Glenn Steven testifies before a parliamentary committee on monetary policy, an event traders will be closing monitoring for any signs of looming interest rate cuts. While the central bank did not cut rates at its meeting earlier this month, odds are slightly better than even that RBA will do so at its next meeting in early March.
The central bank is under some pressure from Australian politicians to weaken the dollar, but 175 basis points in rate cuts since late 2011 have not done much to weaken the Aussie. That leaves few tools at RBA’s disposal with which to weaken the dollar, particularly at time when the mining sector is seeing revenue tumble.
Elsewhere, EUR/AUD added 0.05% to 1.2970 while GBP/AUD rose 0.02% to 1.5057. AUD/JPY climbed 0.46% to 96.84. AUD/NZD slipped 0.17% to 1.2187.
In Asian trading Monday, AUD/USD fell 0.22% to 1.0289. The pair is likely to find support at 1.0226, the low from February 12 and resistance at 1.0373, Friday’s high.
With meeting minutes scheduled to be released from several prominent central banks this week, AUD/USD and other Aussie dollar-related pairs could be in focus. The Federal Reserve is scheduled to release minutes from its January meeting on Wednesday while the Reserve Bank of Australia and the BoE are to release the minutes from their latest policy meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.
Later today, Australia will release official data on new vehicle sales, a leading indicator of investor confidence. On Wednesday, the country’s wage data index along with two indexes of leading economic indicators will be published.
On Friday, RBA Governor Glenn Steven testifies before a parliamentary committee on monetary policy, an event traders will be closing monitoring for any signs of looming interest rate cuts. While the central bank did not cut rates at its meeting earlier this month, odds are slightly better than even that RBA will do so at its next meeting in early March.
The central bank is under some pressure from Australian politicians to weaken the dollar, but 175 basis points in rate cuts since late 2011 have not done much to weaken the Aussie. That leaves few tools at RBA’s disposal with which to weaken the dollar, particularly at time when the mining sector is seeing revenue tumble.
Elsewhere, EUR/AUD added 0.05% to 1.2970 while GBP/AUD rose 0.02% to 1.5057. AUD/JPY climbed 0.46% to 96.84. AUD/NZD slipped 0.17% to 1.2187.