- AUD/USD edges higher after closing in the red on Monday.
- US Dollar Index finds it difficult to stage a convincing recovery.
- Wall Street’s main indexes look to open sharply lower.
The AUD/USD pair advanced to its highest level since late February at 0.7892 on Monday but made a sharp U-turn in the second half of the day to close in the negative territory at 0.7830. With the greenback staying on the back foot on Tuesday, the pair is edging higher and was last seen gaining 0.25% on a daily basis at 0.7850.
DXY closes in on 90.00
At the start of the week, copper prices continued to impact the AUD’s market valuation. The benchmark 3-month copper price on the London Metal Exchange (LME) climbed to a record high of $10,747/tone on Monday but lost its traction. Nevertheless, 3-month copper on LME was up more than 1% at $10,525 as of 1000 GMT on Tuesday, helping the AUD gather strength against its rivals.
On the other hand, the US Dollar Index (DXY) is pushing lower after snapping a three-day losing streak on Monday. At the moment, the DXY is down 0.2% at 90.10. However, the S&P 500 Futures are down 0.75%, suggesting that the USD could capitalize on safe-haven flows if Wall Street’s main indexes suffer heavy losses after the opening bell.
In the meantime, the data from the US showed that the NFIB Business Optimism Index improved to 99.8 in April from 98.2 in March but this reading failed to trigger a meaningful market reaction.
Technical levels to watch for