Following Friday’s significant bounce, the AUD/USD remains pretty calm.
In May, Australia’s retail sales increased more than predicted.
Above 92.00, the US Dollar Index remains in negative territory.
Following the June jobs report, the AUD/USD pair surged strongly on Friday as the greenback came under heavy bearish pressure. The pair continued to move higher on Monday after rising more than 50 pips, and was last seen trading at 0.7533, up 0.1 percent on the day.
The Commonwealth Bank Services PMI increased little to 56.8 in June, according to statistics released earlier in the day. Furthermore, Retail Sales increased by 0.4 percent on a monthly basis in May, exceeding the market’s expectation of a 0.1 percent increase. These encouraging results appear to have given the Australian dollar a boost during Asian trading hours.
The USD, on the other hand, remains weak at the start of the week, allowing the AUD/USD to remain in positive territory. The US Dollar Index is currently trading at 92.15, down 0.1 percent on the day.
The rest of the day will be devoid of high-tier macroeconomic data from the US, and AUD/USD is projected to trade in a narrow consolidation zone.
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) will release the Rate Statement and announce its Interest Rate Decision on Tuesday.
“We now expect the RBA to modestly trim its QE program by announcing a further AUD75 billion program once the current AUD100 billion tranche of buying finishes in September,” Lee Sue Ann, Economist at UOB Group, stated ahead of the RBA meeting.
RBA: Is tapering a possibility? – United Overseas Bank/n
