- AUD/USD is lacking a clear directional bias this Tuesday morning in Asia, despite the big beat on the Aussie building permits.
- The currency pair is trapped in a narrow range defined by key moving averages.
- The RBA is expected to keep the interest rates unchanged today. Markets to scan policy statement for cues regarding the timing of the rate cut.
A strong Aussie housing data released soon before press time has failed to put a bid under the Aussie dollar, leaving the AUD/USD pair largely unchanged on the day at 0.7112.
Australia building permits surged 19.1 percent month-on-month in February, beating an estimated drop of 1 percent by a big margin. The permits had gone up by 2.5 percent in January.
The annualized figure, however, came in at -12.5 percent, marking a big drop from the preceding month’s 28.6 percent rise and has likely taken the shine of the big beat in month-on-month number.
Further, the above-forecast month-on-month figure may not alleviate concerns of a housing market slowdown, as data released last week showed the housing credit growth hit a record low in February. A slide in credit growth is often followed by a deeper drop in housing prices.
As a result, the AUD’s lackluster reaction to the big beat on building permits isn’t surprising. As of writing, the currency pair is trapped between the 50-day moving average (MA) and the 10-day MA, currently at 0.7118 and 0.7103, respectively.
The range could be breached to the downside if the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) sounds dovish later today, reinforcing expectations of two rate cuts this year. The central bank is widely expected to keep rates unchanged today.
Technical Levels
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