Investing.com - The Australian dollar traded lower against its U.S. counterpart during Thursday’s Asian session as traders backed away from some of the riskier currencies due to mediocre U.S. data points and a brewing budget battle on Capitol Hill.
In Asian trading Thursday, AUD/USD fell 0.15% to 0.9354. The pair was likely to find support at 0.9286, the low of September 17 and resistance at 0.9524, the high of September 19.
Riskier currencies such as the Aussie have been in something of a holding pattern in recent days. The Federal Reserve surprised markets last week by opting not to taper its quantitative easing program, but the commentary from some Fed members in the days since paints a conflicting picture of when tapering will actually come to pass.
Some market observers believe tapering will arrive next month. Some think it happen by December and others believe it will start next year. Under either scenario, the lingering uncertainty could continue to pressure riskier assets. U.S. stocks, to which the Aussie is correlated, have fallen five straight days.
On Wednesday in its biannual financial stability review, the Reserve Bank of Australia earlier said the nation's banks remained in good health and urged them to maintain loan standards as record-low interest rates spur households’ investment appetite.
In U.S. economic news out Wednesday, the Commerce Department said durable goods orders rose 0.1% in August, but slid 8.1% in July after the number for that month was revised lower. Economists were expecting a 0.5% decrease in August. Excluding transportation, durable goods orders fell 0.1% last month, below the 1% increase economists forecast.
Separately, the Commerce Department said new home sales rose 7.9% last month to a seasonally adjusted rate of 421,000. On a year-over-year basis, that is a 12.6% increase. Economists expected an August reading of 425,000 units. Sales of new homes rose in all regions except the West.
Elsewhere, AUD/JPY inched down 0.05% to 92.18 while AUD/NZD fell 0.12% to 1.1354.
In Asian trading Thursday, AUD/USD fell 0.15% to 0.9354. The pair was likely to find support at 0.9286, the low of September 17 and resistance at 0.9524, the high of September 19.
Riskier currencies such as the Aussie have been in something of a holding pattern in recent days. The Federal Reserve surprised markets last week by opting not to taper its quantitative easing program, but the commentary from some Fed members in the days since paints a conflicting picture of when tapering will actually come to pass.
Some market observers believe tapering will arrive next month. Some think it happen by December and others believe it will start next year. Under either scenario, the lingering uncertainty could continue to pressure riskier assets. U.S. stocks, to which the Aussie is correlated, have fallen five straight days.
On Wednesday in its biannual financial stability review, the Reserve Bank of Australia earlier said the nation's banks remained in good health and urged them to maintain loan standards as record-low interest rates spur households’ investment appetite.
In U.S. economic news out Wednesday, the Commerce Department said durable goods orders rose 0.1% in August, but slid 8.1% in July after the number for that month was revised lower. Economists were expecting a 0.5% decrease in August. Excluding transportation, durable goods orders fell 0.1% last month, below the 1% increase economists forecast.
Separately, the Commerce Department said new home sales rose 7.9% last month to a seasonally adjusted rate of 421,000. On a year-over-year basis, that is a 12.6% increase. Economists expected an August reading of 425,000 units. Sales of new homes rose in all regions except the West.
Elsewhere, AUD/JPY inched down 0.05% to 92.18 while AUD/NZD fell 0.12% to 1.1354.