The Australian dollar continued to be weaker against the other major currencies in the Asian session on Friday, after data showed that Chinese industrial company profits dropped in the first two months of 2015.
Data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that profits of Chinese industrial firms fell by 4.2 percent year-over-year to 745.2 billion yuan in the January-February period, after the 8.0 percent drop in December.
Meanwhile, the decline in the commodity prices also weighed on the currency.
The ongoing geopolitical concerns amid news that Saudi Arabia and its allies have launched air strikes against the Houthi rebels in Yemen had led to worries about a broader sectarian conflict in the Middle East, as the Saudis consider the Houthi rebels as proxies for Iran.
Amid uncertainties concerning the U.S. monetary policy and economic outlook, the AUD has been trading lower in recent sessions. Since March 24th, the Australian dollar has lost 1.73 percent against the U.S. dollar and 1.47 percent against the yen. The aussie also lost 1.28 percent against the euro from March 23rd.
Thursday, the Australian dollar fell 0.16 percent against the U.S. dollar, 0.43 percent against the yen, 0.50 percent against the euro and 0.49 percent against the Canadian dollar.
In the Asian trading today, the Australian dollar fell to a 1-week low of 0.9727 against the Canadian dollar and a 4-day low of 0.7791 against the U.S. dollar, from yesterday’s closing quotes of 0.9766 and 0.7827, respectively. If the aussie extends its downtrend, it is likely to find support around 0.95 against the loonie and 0.74 against the greenback.
Pulling away from an early 2-day high of 1.3875 against the euro, the aussie slipped to 1.3957. At yesterday’s close, the aussie was trading at 1.3902 against the euro. On the downside, 1.43 is seen as the next support level for the euro.
The aussie depreciated to 1.0288 against the NZ dollar, from an early high of 1.0323. The aussie may test support near the 1.01 area.
Against the yen, the aussie edged down to 92.96 from yesterday’s closing value of 93.28. The aussie is likely to find support around the 90.54 area.
Data from the Ministry of Communications and Internal Affairs showed that overall consumer prices in Japan gained 2.2 percent on year in February, smaller than the 2.3 percent drop expected by economists and down from 2.4 percent in January.
Looking ahead, German import price index and U.K. nationwide house price index – both for February, are due to be released in the European session.
At 4:00 am ET, Bank of England Chief Economist Andy Haldane will deliver a speech about socio-economic complexity at the Lorentz Center, in Amsterdam. Subsequently, after 45 minutes, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney is expected to participate in a panel discussion titled “Debt and Financial Stability – Regulatory Challenges” at the Bundesbank conference in Frankfurt.
Bank of England Deputy Governor Ben Broadbent will deliver a speech at the Imperial Business School in London at 5:15 am ET.
At 6:30 am ET, U.S. Federal Reserve Governor Stanley Fischer will deliver a speech titled “The Nonbank Financial Sector: Issues and Regulation” at the Deutsche Bundesbank Conference titled “Debt and Financial Stability – Regulatory Challenges” in Frankfurt.
In the New York session, preliminary third quarter GDP data and U.S. University of Michigan’s final consumer sentiment index for March are due.
At 3:35 pm ET, U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen is expected to speak about monetary policy at the Federal Reserve Bank Conference titled “The New Normal for Monetary Policy” at San Fransisco.
The material has been provided by InstaForex Company – www.instaforex.com