After a decent fall from 0.7150 late last week in the Australian Dollar (AUD), US Dollar (USD) pair we have seen price move off an early week 0.6850 mark to push towards 0.7000 where it has met resistance overnight. Risk waned and equity markets posted losses taking the Aussie back to 0.6940 as I write. Building Permits were up in December compared to November but helping the AUD higher but overall sentiment was the difference. Tuesday’s RBA policy meeting also pushed the currency higher for a while after the RBA hiked interest rates from 3.10% to 3.25% signalling further interest rate grief was to come. Earlier forecasts had priced in just one more rise of 25 points, but now the cap looks to have shifted from 3.6% to 3.85%. The central bank also said they predicted inflation to slip from the current 7.8% to 4.75% by the end of 2023. We expect to see further upside in the cross, but first getting through solid resistance at 0.7150 will be tough. Next week’s Australian jobs numbers and US Inflation are the key releases.
The current interbank midrate is: AUDUSD 0.6935
The interbank range this week has been: AUDUSD 0.6854- 0.7010