Forex - AUD/USD slumps on RBA minutes, China fears

Published 03/20/2012, 03:54 AM
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Investing.com - The Australian dollar slumped to a two-day low against its U.S. counterpart on Tuesday, after the minutes of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s March policy meeting pointed to the possibility of more rate cuts in the coming months.
 
AUD/USD hit 1.0526 during late Asian trade, the pair’s lowest since Friday; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.0528, tumbling 0.75%.
 
The pair was likely to find support at 1.0422, last Thursday’s low and a seven-week low and resistance at 1.0624, the session high.
 
The RBA said that said that in the event of a sharp slowdown in the domestic economy due to risks arising from the debt crisis in the euro zone there was "ample scope" to cut interest rates if required.
 
Sentiment on the Australian dollar was also hit after the country’s largest miner BHP Billiton said Chinese demand for iron ore was "flattening out." China is Australia’s largest trading partner.
 
The Aussie was almost unchanged against its New Zealand cousin but weakened against the yen, with AUD/NZD dipping 0.01% to hit 1.2832 and AUD/JPY shedding 0.57% to hit 87.89.
 
Later in the day, the U.S. was to produce official data on building permits and housing starts. Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was to speak at an event in Washington; his comments would be closely watched.


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