It’s been a quiet yet day so far today during the Asian session, which led to a weaker aussie and yen. This has been attributed to the market’s anticipation of tomorrow’s events, particularly the monetary policy statement of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA). While no change in Australia’s cash rate is expected, the attention will be on any mention about the value of the aussie. If the statement is strongly-worded and in favor of a weaker aussie, then it’s largely expected for the currency to lose much of its gains over the past few days. In addition to the RBA’s statement, China will also release its PMI data, which could also affect the value of the aussie.
The AUD/USD pair opened the Asian session at 0.9258, but has since slid down as the session progressed. Part of the reason behind this is the Deutsche Bank’s cut of China’s 2014 GDP growth estimate, which fell from the original 8.2% to 8.0%. Aside from that, the Financial Times also reported that the rate of bad loans in China have more than doubled since last year.
The AUD/USD pair is currently trading at 0.9225, with initial resistance seen at 0.9272, followed by 0.9296. Meanwhile, initial support is at 0.9211, followed by 0.9188.
As for the USD/JPY, the weak yen kept the pair within a very narrow range during today’s Asian session. It opened earlier at 102.89, but has since hovered within the 102.81-102.91 areas. This means the mood is a lot more subdued today than last Friday’s surge during the latter part of the European session where it broke past the 102.50 area. The pair is currently trading at 102.84, with initial resistance seen at 103.39, followed by 103.65. Meanwhile, initial support is at 102.43, followed by 102.17.