- The AUD/USD pair has hit the lowest level since December 2016.
- Australia retail sales figure missed expectations by a wide margin, reinforcing dovish RBA expectations.
The AUD is being offered in response to a weaker-than-expected Australia retail sales reading.
The retail sales growth stalled in August, missing the forecast of a 0.3 percent month-on-month rise. The previous month’s print has been left unrevised at 0.4 percent.
Meanwhile, Australian ANZ job advertisements fell 0.6 percent on month in August, following a 1.4 percent rise in July.
The weak consumption data and job additions figure only validated the argument that the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is unlikely to hike interest rates any time soon.
Still, the AUD/USD may not suffer deeper losses as the currency pair is looking oversold as per the 14-week relative strength index. Further, the Australia Q2 inventories data has bettered estimates by printing at 0.6 percent quarter-on-quarter. Company operating profit also rose 2 percent quarter-on-quarter in Q2, beating the estimated figure of 1.3 percent, but well below the previous month’s print of 5.9 percent.
At press time, the AUD/USD is trading at 0.7174, having clocked a 20-month low of 0.7166 a couple of minutes ago.
AUD/USD Technical Levels
Resistance: 0.7202 (Aug. 15 low), 0.7255 (5-day MA), 0.291 (10-day MA)
Support: 0.7160 (December 2016 low), 0.7145 (May 2016 low), 0.71 (psychological level)
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