The Aussie Battler fought its way through the plunge in risk assets and the flight to havens. AUD/USD closed at 0.6593 in New York before edging higher to 0.6615 currently. Broad-based US Dollar weakness and a short speculative Aussie market has kept the Battler firm despite the market’s risk-off stance.
Australian data has mostly outperformed this week. While Building Approvals and the Current Account disappointed, upbeat Q4 GDP and Trade Balance have supported the currency. Australian Retail Sales (January) is released today. The COVID -19 effect may not appear until February’s report.
The RBA trimmed its Overnight Cash Rate by 0.25% on Tuesday to 0.50%. The next day, the Fed slashed it’s key Fed Funds rate by 0.5%.
We reported earlier this week that net speculative Aussie short bets rose to -AUD 43,852 contracts from -AUD 37,477. AUD/USD has been battered since the start of the year when the bushfire crisis rose to unprecedented heights.
AUD/USD has immediate resistance at 0.6640 (overnight high 0.66367) followed by 0.6680. Immediate support can be found at 0.6585 (overnight low 0.65839). The next support level lies at 0.6545. Look to trade a likely range of 0.6590-0.6650. Prefer to buy dips, the Battler will continue its fight.
