Investing.com - The Australian dollar fell against its U.S. rival during Monday’s Asian session after a disappointing retail sales report.
In Asian trading Monday, AUD/USD fell 0.39.% to 1.0278. The pair is likely to find support at 1.0220, Thursday’s low and resistance at 1.0380, Wednesday’s high. The pair closed modestly higher last week.
In a report published earlier Monday, Australia’s Bureau of Statistics said retail sales there fell 0.4% in March following a 1.3% February increase.
Clothing, footwear and personal accessories, were among the worst-performing categories. Food retail sales rose 0.8% while revenue for cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services increased 0.2%. Retail sales decreased in Queensland, Victoria, the ACT and New South Wales, but rose modestly in Southern and Western Australia.
The news comes a day before the Reserve Bank of Australia holds its next monetary policy meeting. A slim majority of traders are betting on an interest rate cut, something RBA has not done following its most recent policy meetings.
Australia’s overnight cash rate is 3%, low by the country’s standards but still among the highest in the developed world.
Elsewhere, EUR/AUD jumped 0.42% to 1.2771 even after former German Finance Minister Oskar Lafontaine, one of the architects of the common currency, said the single currency union should be broken up.
Lafontaine said austerity in the euro zone is "finished" while adding that forcing Greece, Portugal and Spain to move forward with internal devaluations was a disaster.
AUD/JPY slipped 0.33% to 101.86. Japanese markets are closed today for a public holiday.
In Asian trading Monday, AUD/USD fell 0.39.% to 1.0278. The pair is likely to find support at 1.0220, Thursday’s low and resistance at 1.0380, Wednesday’s high. The pair closed modestly higher last week.
In a report published earlier Monday, Australia’s Bureau of Statistics said retail sales there fell 0.4% in March following a 1.3% February increase.
Clothing, footwear and personal accessories, were among the worst-performing categories. Food retail sales rose 0.8% while revenue for cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services increased 0.2%. Retail sales decreased in Queensland, Victoria, the ACT and New South Wales, but rose modestly in Southern and Western Australia.
The news comes a day before the Reserve Bank of Australia holds its next monetary policy meeting. A slim majority of traders are betting on an interest rate cut, something RBA has not done following its most recent policy meetings.
Australia’s overnight cash rate is 3%, low by the country’s standards but still among the highest in the developed world.
Elsewhere, EUR/AUD jumped 0.42% to 1.2771 even after former German Finance Minister Oskar Lafontaine, one of the architects of the common currency, said the single currency union should be broken up.
Lafontaine said austerity in the euro zone is "finished" while adding that forcing Greece, Portugal and Spain to move forward with internal devaluations was a disaster.
AUD/JPY slipped 0.33% to 101.86. Japanese markets are closed today for a public holiday.