Investing.com - The Australian dollar was sharply higher against its U.S. counterpart on Wednesday, as demand for riskier assets strengthened ahead of the European Central Bank’s first offer of three-year loans later in the day.
AUD/USD hit 1.0184 during late Asian trade, the pair’s highest since December 12; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.0208, surging 1.27%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.9979, the low of December 13 and resistance at 1.0303, the high of December 7.
The Aussie found support ahead of the ECB operation as investors hoped it will help the region’s banks lower their funding costs and avoid a liquidity shortage in the euro zone.
More than 10 Italian banks were expected to apply for the loans by using state-guaranteed bonds as collateral.
Risk appetite strengthened on Tuesday after a successful Spanish bond auction, as well as an unexpected improvement in German business sentiment and upbeat U.S. housing data.
In Australia, a report showed that the growth rate of the Westpac-Melbourne Institute leading index was 2.6% in October, below its long term trend of 3.0% but still ticking up 0.1% after a 0.3% decline the previous month.
Elsewhere, the Aussie was fractionally higher against the New Zealand dollar with AUD/NZD edging up 0.09%, to hit 1.3137.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to produce industry data on existing home sales.
AUD/USD hit 1.0184 during late Asian trade, the pair’s highest since December 12; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.0208, surging 1.27%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.9979, the low of December 13 and resistance at 1.0303, the high of December 7.
The Aussie found support ahead of the ECB operation as investors hoped it will help the region’s banks lower their funding costs and avoid a liquidity shortage in the euro zone.
More than 10 Italian banks were expected to apply for the loans by using state-guaranteed bonds as collateral.
Risk appetite strengthened on Tuesday after a successful Spanish bond auction, as well as an unexpected improvement in German business sentiment and upbeat U.S. housing data.
In Australia, a report showed that the growth rate of the Westpac-Melbourne Institute leading index was 2.6% in October, below its long term trend of 3.0% but still ticking up 0.1% after a 0.3% decline the previous month.
Elsewhere, the Aussie was fractionally higher against the New Zealand dollar with AUD/NZD edging up 0.09%, to hit 1.3137.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to produce industry data on existing home sales.