Investing.com - The Australian dollar was almost unchanged against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday, as market sentiment weakened ahead of Italy’s second bond auction this week amid sustained concerns over the euro zone’s debt woes.
AUD/USD hit 1.0045 during late Asian trade, the pair’s lowest since December 20; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.0092, inching down 0.01%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.9979, the low of December 13 and resistance at 1.0148, the high of December 22.
With most investors already away on year-end leave, trading volumes were thin, resulting in tight liquidity conditions and irregular volatility.
Markets were jittery as Italy’s Treasury was preparing to sell EUR8.5 billion of long-term debt maturing between 2014 and 2022 later Thursday.
Rome sold EUR9 billion of six-month bills on Wednesday, at an average yield of 3.25%, down from a record-high 6.50% in a previous auction in November.
Following the auction, the yield on Italy’s 10-year bonds traded at 6.82%, falling slightly below the 7% threshold widely seen as unsustainable in the long-term.
But the sale failed to reassure markets as concerns over the debt crisis in the euro zone lingered after data showed earlier in the week that banks deposited a record high EUR452 billion at the European Central Bank's overnight facility, revealing that European lenders are still unwilling to lend to each other.
Elsewhere, the Aussie was fractionally higher against the euro with EUR/AUD dipping 0.03%, to hit 1.2816.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release a weekly government report on initial jobless claims, as well as industry data on pending home sales and business conditions in the Chicago area.
AUD/USD hit 1.0045 during late Asian trade, the pair’s lowest since December 20; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.0092, inching down 0.01%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.9979, the low of December 13 and resistance at 1.0148, the high of December 22.
With most investors already away on year-end leave, trading volumes were thin, resulting in tight liquidity conditions and irregular volatility.
Markets were jittery as Italy’s Treasury was preparing to sell EUR8.5 billion of long-term debt maturing between 2014 and 2022 later Thursday.
Rome sold EUR9 billion of six-month bills on Wednesday, at an average yield of 3.25%, down from a record-high 6.50% in a previous auction in November.
Following the auction, the yield on Italy’s 10-year bonds traded at 6.82%, falling slightly below the 7% threshold widely seen as unsustainable in the long-term.
But the sale failed to reassure markets as concerns over the debt crisis in the euro zone lingered after data showed earlier in the week that banks deposited a record high EUR452 billion at the European Central Bank's overnight facility, revealing that European lenders are still unwilling to lend to each other.
Elsewhere, the Aussie was fractionally higher against the euro with EUR/AUD dipping 0.03%, to hit 1.2816.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release a weekly government report on initial jobless claims, as well as industry data on pending home sales and business conditions in the Chicago area.