Australian Dollar Falls Amid RBA Rate Cut Speculation

(RTTNews) - The Australian dollar weakened against other major currencies in the Asian session on Thursday, as some traders speculate that the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is likely to lower interest rates by 25 basis points at its next month meeting.

At its meeting on May 20, Westpac expects the RBA to lower interest rates by 25 basis points.

Crude oil prices traded lower after reports suggested that OPEC may accelerate oil output hikes in June for a second consecutive month. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery tumbled $1.52 or 2.4 percent to $62.15 a barrel.

Meanwhile, the Asian stock markets traded higher after U.S. President Donald Trump suggested he's willing to take a less confrontational approach to trade talks with China, predicting the current 145 percent tariff on Chinese imports will "come down substantially."

China also expressed willingness to resume trade talks, provided Washington halts its threats.

Adding to the positive sentiment, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said there is an "opportunity for a big deal" between the U.S. and China. "If they want to rebalance, let's do it together," Bessent added. "This is an incredible opportunity."

Investors also eyed progress in ongoing trade negotiations between the U.S. and Japan.

In the Asian trading today, the Australian dollar fell to a 1-week low of 0.6344 against the U.S. dollar, from yesterday's closing value of 0.6364. The aussie may test support near the 0.59 region.

Against the yen and the euro, the aussie slid to 90.56 and 1.7870 from Wednesday's closing quotes of 91.11 and 1.7804, respectively. If the aussie extends its downtrend, it is likely to find support around 85.00 against the yen and 1.85 against the euro.

Against the Canada and the New Zealand dollars, the aussie dropped to 0.8800 and 1.0675 from Wednesday's closing quotes of 0.8829 and 1.0695, respectively. On the downside, 0.84 against the loonie and 1.05 against the kiwi are seen as the next support levels for the aussie.

Looking ahead, the ifo institute is scheduled to release German business confidence survey data at 4:00 am ET. The business sentiment index is seen at 85.1 in April, down from 86.7 in March.

At 6:00 am ET, the Confederation of British Industry is set to publish Industrial Trends survey results. The order book balance is forecast to fall to -36 in April from -29 in March.

In the New York session, Canada average weekly earnings data for February, U.S. durable goods orders for March, U.S. Chicago Fed National Activity index for March, existing home sales data for March and U.S. weekly jobless claims data are slated for release.