Investing.com- The Australian dollar pared gains against its U.S. in Thursday’s Asian session after jumping higher during Wednesday’s U.S. session on news of more monetary easing from the Federal Reserve.
In Asian trading Thursday, AUD/USD was off 0.06% at 1.0550. AUD/USD was trading near a three-month leading up to the release of minutes from the Fed’s last monetary policy meeting of the year.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.0462, Tuesday's low and resistance at 1.0578, the high of August 10. Year-to-date the Australian dollar has gained about 6% against the greenback.
As expected, the Fed did not reduce interest rates, but central bank pledged to consider rate increases until the U.S. jobless rate drops below 6.5%. It currently stands at 7.7%. However, the central bank did say it will purchase $45 billion in short-term Treasuries and longer-dated U.S. government bonds when Operation Twist expires at the end of this month.
That announcement is the latest shot fired by the Fed on the easing front and such headlines usually spur riskier currencies such as the Australian dollar higher against safer fare such as the U.S. dollar. However, the greenback is trading higher against riskier currencies in Thursday’s Asian session. That could be a sign traders are concerned the Fed is running on easing ammunition with which to bolster the fragile U.S. economy.
Bucking the trend was the kiwi. NZD/USD jumped 0.11% to 0.8445, a new nine-month high. The pair was likely to find support at 0.8335, Tuesday's low and resistance at 0.8472, the high of February 29.
Elsewhere, AUD/NZD slipped 0.1% to 1.2500 while AUD/JPY surged 0.39% to 88.24. EUR/AUD gained 0.06% to 1.2396.
In Asian trading Thursday, AUD/USD was off 0.06% at 1.0550. AUD/USD was trading near a three-month leading up to the release of minutes from the Fed’s last monetary policy meeting of the year.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.0462, Tuesday's low and resistance at 1.0578, the high of August 10. Year-to-date the Australian dollar has gained about 6% against the greenback.
As expected, the Fed did not reduce interest rates, but central bank pledged to consider rate increases until the U.S. jobless rate drops below 6.5%. It currently stands at 7.7%. However, the central bank did say it will purchase $45 billion in short-term Treasuries and longer-dated U.S. government bonds when Operation Twist expires at the end of this month.
That announcement is the latest shot fired by the Fed on the easing front and such headlines usually spur riskier currencies such as the Australian dollar higher against safer fare such as the U.S. dollar. However, the greenback is trading higher against riskier currencies in Thursday’s Asian session. That could be a sign traders are concerned the Fed is running on easing ammunition with which to bolster the fragile U.S. economy.
Bucking the trend was the kiwi. NZD/USD jumped 0.11% to 0.8445, a new nine-month high. The pair was likely to find support at 0.8335, Tuesday's low and resistance at 0.8472, the high of February 29.
Elsewhere, AUD/NZD slipped 0.1% to 1.2500 while AUD/JPY surged 0.39% to 88.24. EUR/AUD gained 0.06% to 1.2396.