AUD/USD: Retail Sales Disappoint, Lead The Aussie Lower

AUD/USD: Retail Sales Disappoint, Lead The Aussie Lower

For the 24 hours to 23:00 GMT on Friday, the AUD ended flat against the USD to close at 1.0428.

Over the weekend, the Australian Industry Group’s performance of manufacturing index declined to a reading of 43.6 in November, the ninth straight monthly contraction and compared to a reading of 45.2 reported in October.

LME Copper prices rose 1.3% or $99.0/MT to $7948.8/MT. Aluminium prices rose 1.6% or $33.0/MT to $2078.5/MT.

In the Asian session, at GMT0400, the pair is trading at 1.0414, with the AUD trading 0.13% lower from Friday’s close.

Data released this morning indicated that retail sales in Australia stood flat in October, at A$21.563 billion, against the forecasts for an increase of 0.4% (MoM) and following the 0.5% gain in September.

In China, the HSBC manufacturing PMI climbed to a reading of 50.5 in November, compared to a revised reading of 50.4 in October. Meanwhile, non-manufacturing PMI rose to a reading of 55.6 in November, from 55.5 in October.

The pair is expected to find support at 1.0389, and a fall through could take it to the next support level of 1.0364. The pair is expected to find its first resistance at 1.0443, and a rise through could take it to the next resistance level of 1.0472.