The Australian dollar has posted slight gains on Monday, as AUD/USD trades at 0.7140 in the North American session. In economic news, Australian New Motor Vehicle Sales rebounded with a gain of 0.5%. There was more good news, as China posted a trade surplus of $406 billion, well above the forecast. Early on Tuesday, the RBA will release the minutes of its recent policy meeting. US markets are closed for a holiday, so there are no US releases on the schedule.
Australia released a positive New Motor Vehicles Sales report in January. The indicator, an important gauge of consumer confidence, gained 0.5%, compared to a reading of -0.5% a month earlier. There has been plenty of negative news out of China in the early part of 2016, but the Chinese trade surplus sparkled in January, jumping to $406 billion, well above the estimate of $389 billion. An expanding Chinese economy is good news for Australia, as the Asian giant is Australia’s largest trading partner. Market attention now shifts to the RBA minutes. At the last policy meeting, the RBA noted that the Australian economy had improved modestly, but left open room for further rate cuts. Analysts will be looking for further details about the central bank’s bias towards easing from the minutes. We could see some volatility after the release of the minutes, so traders should treat this event as a market-mover.
AUD/USD Fundamentals
*Key releases are highlighted in bold
*All release times are EST
AUD/USD for Monday, February 15, 2016
AUD/USD February 15 at 11:00 EST
AUD/USD Open: 0.7116 Low: 0.7110 High: 0.7171 Close: 0.7142
AUD/USD Technical
| S3 | S2 | S1 | R1 | R2 | R3 |
| 0.6931 | 0.7012 | 0.7100 | 0.7213 | 0.7385 | 0.7440 |
- AUD/USD posted slight gains in the Asian session. The pair has shown marginal movement in the European and North American sessions.
- 0.7100 is providing weak support
- There is resistance at 0.7213
- Current range: 0.7100 to 0.7213
Further levels in both directions:
- Below: 0.7100, 0.7012, 0.6931 and 0.6848
- Above: 0.7213, 0.7385 and 0.7440
OANDA’s Open Positions Ratio
AUD/USD ratio is showing an even split between long and short positions. This indicates a lack of trader bias as to what direction the pair will head to next.
This article is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Corporation or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. Leveraged trading is high risk and not suitable for all. You could lose all of your deposited funds.