Investing.com - The Australian dollar lost ground against its U.S. counterpart during Thursday’s Asian session despite reduced expectations of further rate cuts down under and news that U.S. policymakers reached a deal to reopen the government.
In Asian trading Thursday, AUD/USD fell 0.17% to 0.9537. The pair was likely to find support at 0.9435, the low of October 14 and resistance at 0.9642, the high of June 17.
The Aussie is poised to snap a six-day winning streak even as some banks and traders pare bets that the Reserve Bank of Australia will lower interest rates again.
For example, ANZ bank had previously expected RBA could cut rates by another 25 basis points between now and February 2014. However, the bank expects RBA will stand pat with eye toward raising rates in 2015 and a target of 4% by the first half of 2016.
Although RBA has slashed rates by 225 basis points over the past two years, the central bank has left the door open for further rate cuts because inflation in Australia is benign.
Additionally, the world’s 12th-largest economy still is not receiving much in the way of help from sectors beyond mining and materials. That scenario is problematic because the unprecedented Australian mining boom that bolstered the country’s economy is expected to wane this year.
In U.S. economic news out Wednesday, the Federal Reserve reported in its Beige Book, which analyzes current economic conditions, that the U.S. economy expanded at a moderate pace from September into October, though the U.S. central bank said fiscal uncertainty was dampening recovery.
Elsewhere, AUD/JPY fell 0.28% to 94.10 while AUD/NZD lost 0.20% to 1.1318.
In Asian trading Thursday, AUD/USD fell 0.17% to 0.9537. The pair was likely to find support at 0.9435, the low of October 14 and resistance at 0.9642, the high of June 17.
The Aussie is poised to snap a six-day winning streak even as some banks and traders pare bets that the Reserve Bank of Australia will lower interest rates again.
For example, ANZ bank had previously expected RBA could cut rates by another 25 basis points between now and February 2014. However, the bank expects RBA will stand pat with eye toward raising rates in 2015 and a target of 4% by the first half of 2016.
Although RBA has slashed rates by 225 basis points over the past two years, the central bank has left the door open for further rate cuts because inflation in Australia is benign.
Additionally, the world’s 12th-largest economy still is not receiving much in the way of help from sectors beyond mining and materials. That scenario is problematic because the unprecedented Australian mining boom that bolstered the country’s economy is expected to wane this year.
In U.S. economic news out Wednesday, the Federal Reserve reported in its Beige Book, which analyzes current economic conditions, that the U.S. economy expanded at a moderate pace from September into October, though the U.S. central bank said fiscal uncertainty was dampening recovery.
Elsewhere, AUD/JPY fell 0.28% to 94.10 while AUD/NZD lost 0.20% to 1.1318.