S&P 500 — US Large Cap Index
FTSE 100 — UK Blue Chips
Euro Stoxx 50 — Eurozone Leaders
DAX 40 — German Equities
CAC 40 — French Market Index
Nikkei 225 — Japan Benchmark
Hang Seng — Hong Kong Index
Shanghai Composite — China Mainland
ASX 200 — Australian Market
TSX Composite — Canada Index
Nifty 50 — India Large Cap
STI Index — Singapore Market
KOSPI — South Korea Index
Bovespa — Brazil Equities
JSE Top 40 — South Africa Index
IPC Index — Mexico Market
- The Australian Dollar edges up against the US Dollar despite multiple headwinds.
- Middle East war may last longer due to US attacks on Iranian infrastructure.
- The FOMC minutes show that several policymakers see the need for monetary policy tightening.
The Australian Dollar (AUD) trades marginally higher at around 0.6935 against the US Dollar (USD) during the European trading session on Thursday. The Aussie pair edges up as the US Dollar ticks lower despite escalating Middle East risks and hawkish Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) Minutes of the June policy meeting.
At press time, the US Dollar Index (DXY), which gauges the Greenback’s value against six major currencies, trades 0.13% lower to near 100.92.
The attacks on Iranian infrastructure by United States (US) military forces signal that the restart of the war would last long, a scenario that might keep oil prices higher and the appeal of safe-haven assets upbeat. According to Axios, the US Air Force bombed two railway bridges in Iran on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the FOMC Minutes showed on Wednesday that policymakers are concerned about upside inflation risks and several of them see the need to tighten monetary conditions to ease price pressures.
In the Australian region, traders might consider raising hawkish Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) bets again as Assistant Governor Sarah Hunter has reiterated that the central bank would act, if needed, for inflation to return to target and maintain sustainable full employment.
Lately, traders pared hawkish RBA bets as the Australian monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI) has cooled down in the last two months.
AUD/USD technical analysis
AUD/USD trades slightly higher at around 0.6936, but maintains a bearish near-term tone as it remains below the 20-period exponential moving average (EMA) at 0.6963.
The pair has been unable to reclaim this short-term trend proxy, suggesting that rallies are likely to be capped while price holds under the EMA. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) at 41.46 stays below the midline, hinting at persistent, though not extreme, selling pressure.
On the topside, initial resistance is defined by the 20-period EMA at 0.6963, which is the first level bulls would need to overcome to ease the current downside bias. Above the moving average, the next resistance for the pair will be the psychological level of 0.7000. Looking down, the June low at 0.6865 is the key support level; a break below that would expose the pair to the March low at 0.6833.
