AUD/USD: downside capped by hourly 100-SMA

By FXStreet FXStreet (Mumbai) – The AUD/USD pair halted its four-day winning streak and turned in the negative territory this Monday as dismal China’s PMI reports as well as lower commodities’ prices continue to dent the sentiment.

AUD/USD supported at hourly 100-SMA at 0.7044

Currently, the AUD/USD pair trades -0.29% lower at 0.7067, quickly reversing a dip to session lows at 0.7044, where hourly 100-SMA intersects. The Aussie came under renewed selling pressure at the beginning of the RBA week, as the latest set of sluggish Chinese data revived China slowdown worries into markets. China is Australia’s top export destination.

China’s official PMI gauge slid to a three-year low of 49.4 in January, from 49.7 a month earlier. While the Caixin PMI came in at 48.4 in January, against 48.2 in December, although remained deep in contraction.

In addition, ongoing weakness in oil and industrial metals also hurts the resource-linked Aussie. Both crude benchmarks are down nearly 1.40%, while the copper prices drop -0.85% so far.

Further, markets resorted to profit-taking after the recent strength, and ahead of Tuesday’s RBA cash rate announcement. While the week ahead, holds a lot for the AUD, in terms of significant fundamentals viz., retail sales, monetary policy statement, business …read more

Source:: FX Street