Investing.com - The Australian dollar fell against its U.S. cousin on Monday, briefly dipping below parity for the first time since December, as investors snapped up greenbacks and select Asian equities, ditching the Australian currency in the process.
In Asian trading on Monday, AUD/USD hit 1.0008, down 0.11%, up from a session low of 0.0996 and off from a high of 1.0034.
The pair was likely to test support at 0.0996, the earlier low, and resistance at 1.0083, the high on May 11.
Greece continued to serve as the foreign-exchange market's chief weather vane early Monday.
Political parties there have said they want to stick with the euro, but doubts the country will meet austerity requirements to stay in the currency bloc continued to build after President Karolos Papoulias was unable over the weekend to patch together a coalition.
Conservative political party New Democracy, left-wing Syriza, socialist PASOK and the smaller Democratic Left have been trying to create a government after May 6 parliamentary elections failed to give any one bloc enough backing to create a government.
Greece has agreed to tough austerity measures in exchange for access to multilateral bailout money, although widespread anger at such policies including layoffs, tax hikes and public spending cuts resulted in factional parliamentary results.
Failure to decide on a coalition government soon could force a second round of elections, seen by many as a tipping point towards a Greek exit from the eurozone, which had the dollar up against most major currencies
Meanwhile, the Australian currency continued to decline on Chinese output data released last week.
China's industrial output climbed by 9.3% in April from a year earlier, according to official data, below forecasts for a 12% gain.
Meanwhile, Chinese retail sales rose 14.1%, below market expectations for 15.2% expansion.
Over the weekend, the People's Bank of China cut by 50 basis points banks' reserve requirement ratio effective May 18.
The Australian dollar is sensitive to global growth rates.
The unit did see some supporting data.
The number of new home loans granted in Australia rose unexpectedly last month, official data showed on Monday.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported the country's home loans in April rose to a seasonally adjusted 0.3%, from -2.5% in the preceding month.
Analysts were expecting Australian home loans to fall -2.0%.
The Australian dollar was up against the euro and up against the yen, with EUR/AUD down 0.11% at 1.2877 and AUD/JPY up 0.01% at 80.11.
Later, Australia is due to release the minutes of its latest monetary policy meeting.
In Asian trading on Monday, AUD/USD hit 1.0008, down 0.11%, up from a session low of 0.0996 and off from a high of 1.0034.
The pair was likely to test support at 0.0996, the earlier low, and resistance at 1.0083, the high on May 11.
Greece continued to serve as the foreign-exchange market's chief weather vane early Monday.
Political parties there have said they want to stick with the euro, but doubts the country will meet austerity requirements to stay in the currency bloc continued to build after President Karolos Papoulias was unable over the weekend to patch together a coalition.
Conservative political party New Democracy, left-wing Syriza, socialist PASOK and the smaller Democratic Left have been trying to create a government after May 6 parliamentary elections failed to give any one bloc enough backing to create a government.
Greece has agreed to tough austerity measures in exchange for access to multilateral bailout money, although widespread anger at such policies including layoffs, tax hikes and public spending cuts resulted in factional parliamentary results.
Failure to decide on a coalition government soon could force a second round of elections, seen by many as a tipping point towards a Greek exit from the eurozone, which had the dollar up against most major currencies
Meanwhile, the Australian currency continued to decline on Chinese output data released last week.
China's industrial output climbed by 9.3% in April from a year earlier, according to official data, below forecasts for a 12% gain.
Meanwhile, Chinese retail sales rose 14.1%, below market expectations for 15.2% expansion.
Over the weekend, the People's Bank of China cut by 50 basis points banks' reserve requirement ratio effective May 18.
The Australian dollar is sensitive to global growth rates.
The unit did see some supporting data.
The number of new home loans granted in Australia rose unexpectedly last month, official data showed on Monday.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported the country's home loans in April rose to a seasonally adjusted 0.3%, from -2.5% in the preceding month.
Analysts were expecting Australian home loans to fall -2.0%.
The Australian dollar was up against the euro and up against the yen, with EUR/AUD down 0.11% at 1.2877 and AUD/JPY up 0.01% at 80.11.
Later, Australia is due to release the minutes of its latest monetary policy meeting.