Australian Dollar Falls Amid Risk Aversion

(RTTNews) - The Australian dollar weakened against other major currencies in the Asian session on Monday, as Asian stock markets traded lower, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday, as traders reacted to mixed U.S. monthly jobs data and are cautious ahead of the release of key U.S. inflation data on Tuesday that could have a more profound impact on the outlook for interest rates.

Some traders also booked profits following the recent market strength.

Weakness across most sectors led by mining, energy and financial stocks, also weighed on the investor sentiment.

Crude oil prices fell amid uncertainty about the outlook for demand, particularly from China after data showed a drop in the country's oil imports in the first two months of the year. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April shed $0.92 or 1.2 percent at $78.01 a barrel. WTI crude futures sank 2.5 percent in the week.

In the Asian trading today, the Australian dollar fell to nearly a 1-month low of 97.06 against the yen, from Friday's closing value of 97.46. The aussie may test support near the 95.00 region.

Against the U.S. and the New Zealand dollars, the aussie dropped to 4-day lows of 0.6606 and 1.0706 from last week's closing quotes of 0.6627 and 1.0729, respectively. If the aussie extends its downtrend, it is likely to find support around 0.64 against the greenback and 1.05 against the kiwi.

Against the euro and the Canadian dollar, the aussie edged down to 1.6554 and 0.8911 from last week's closing quotes of 1.6499 and 0.8932, respectively. The next possible downside target for the aussie is found around 1.67 against the euro and 0.87 against the loonie.

Looking ahead, U.S. CB employment trends index for February and U.S. NY Fed 1-Year consumer inflation expectations results are slated for release in the New York session.