AUDUSD Movement
For the 24 hours to 23:00 GMT, the AUD strengthened marginally against the USD to close at 0.7002.
LME Copper prices rose 1.66% or $83.0/MT to $5093.0/MT. Aluminium prices rose 0.84% or $13.0/MT to $1562.0/MT.
In the Asian session, at GMT0300, the pair is trading at 0.7045, with the AUD trading 0.62% higher from yesterday’s close.
Overnight data showed that Australia’s AiG performance of manufacturing index climbed to a level of 52.1 in September, from 51.7 in August.
Elsewhere, in China, Australia’s biggest trading partner, the official manufacturing PMI unexpectedly rose to a reading of 49.8 in September, but remained in contraction territory. It followed a three-year low level of 49.7 recorded in the previous month. Meanwhile, the nation’s non-manufacturing PMI remained unchanged at prior month’s level of 53.4 in September.
Other economic revealed that the final estimate of China’s Caixin manufacturing PMI bumped slightly higher to 47.2, but remained at a six-and-a-half year low in September, while analysts expected the index to remain steady at 47.0. Additionally, the services sector index fell to 50.5 in September from a reading of 51.5 in August, notching its lowest level since hitting 50 in July last year, thus flagging concerns that the world’s second biggest economy is running out of steam more sharply than expected.
The pair is expected to find support at 0.7002, and a fall through could take it to the next support level of 0.6959. The pair is expected to find its first resistance at 0.7076, and a rise through could take it to the next resistance level of 0.7106.
Moving forward, market participants will keep a close eye on Australia’s retail sales data for August, scheduled in the early hours tomorrow.
The currency pair is trading above its 20 Hr and 50 Hr moving averages.