- Australian dollar extends losses across the board during the American session.
- AUD/USD heads for lowest daily close since 2003.
The AUD/USD failed to recover 0.60 and dropped further, printing a fresh cycle low at 0.5957. The Australian dollar is the worst performer on Tuesday among G10 currencies.
Not even some risk appetite
Commodity and emerging market currencies remain under pressure even as equity markets in the US show some signs of stabilization after several announcements. The Dow Jones is up by 2.20% recovering some of Monday’s losses. The key driver is US dollar strength. The DXY is up by 1.50%, at 99.70 about to post the second highest close since 2017.
More measures from the US government and the Fed, pressure is mounting for RBA
The Trump administration announced relief measures. Treasury Secretary Mnuchin mentioned talks with Congress about sending checks to Americans, over the very short-term. Earlier, the Federal Reserve said it will launch the Commercial Paper Funding Facility to support short-term commercial debt markets. After the emergency rate cuts, the measure was expected.
In Australia, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) released the minutes of its last meeting but it appears to be old news. “The RBA’s Minutes of the March meeting were entirely focused on COVID-19. There is no discussion on prospects for QE, suggesting the Bank did not expect to resort to unconventional anytime soon. Given how quickly market developments have shifted, there is little new information from today’s release with Thursday’s RBA announcement on government bond purchases and additional measures the key focus for market participants”, explained analysts at TDS.
Market participants expect the RBA to announce another rate cut of 25bps and a QE program in order to mitigate the economic impact of the coronavirus and to help markets stabilize.
AUD/USD Technical levels
Share
