Australian Dollar Slides; Eyes On RBA Rate Decision

(RTTNews) - The Australian dollar weakened against other major currencies in the Asian session on Monday, as traders cautiously await the Australia's central bank upcoming policy meeting on Tuesday.

Market expects the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to keep its interest rate unchanged at 4.10 percent in the monetary policy meeting due tomorrow.

As the RBA's inflation rate is above the target of 2-3 percent at 5.2 percent in August, it could impact the RBA's policy decision.

In economic news, data from Judo Bank showed that the manufacturing sector in Australia continued to contract in September, and at a faster rate, with a manufacturing PMI score of 48.7. That's down from 49.6 in August, and it moves further beneath the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

In the Asian trading now, the Australian dollar fell to nearly a 5-month low of 1.0692 against the NZ dollar from Friday's closing value of 1.0725. On the downside, 1.05 is seen as the next support level for the aussie.

Against the U.S. dollar, the yen and the euro, the aussie dropped to 4-day lows of 0.6398, 95.77 and 1.6520 from last week's closing quotes of 0.6434, 96.09 and 1.6423, respectively. If the aussie extends its downtrend, it may find support around 0.62 against the greenback, 91.00 against the yen and 1.69 against the euro.

The aussie edged down to 0.8697 against the Canadian dollar from an early high of 0.8744. The next possible downside target for the aussie is seen around the 0.85 region.

Looking ahead, PMI reports from various European economies and U.K. for September, Eurozone unemployment rate for August are slated for release in the European session.

In the New York session, U.S. and Canada PMI reports for September are slated for release.

At 1:30 pm ET, Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams will moderate a discussion before the 2023 Environmental Economics and Policy Conference: "Measuring and Adapting to Climate Risk", hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.