AUD/USD holds ground in quiet Monday trading, refusing to give up 0.79 handle
|- Aussie flat but holding ground against USD.
- Weak points in Aussie economy plaguing RBA.
- RBA meeting minutes at 00:30 GMT.
AUD/USD traded flat for Monday, currently heading to Tuesday's overnight session testing just above 0.7910.
The Aussie saw thin markets on Monday, with China and the US both on holidays, and with China taking the first half of the week off for Chinese New Year, volatility can be expected to remain subdued in Asia trading.
AUD/USD is recovering coming off a US Dollar correction that has seen the pair slide from an almost three-year high; the Aussie has recovered, yet still remains exposed to US Dollar recoveries.
Middling economic growth and mixed data for Australia has left the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) hogtied for future proojections of rate increases. While central banks around the globe prepare to start winding down their easy monetary programs, the RBA is trapped in wait-and-see mode, hoping to see more stable, pronounced growth figures in the future. Most analysts widely anticipate RBA rates to remain on hold until well into 2019 or 2020.
Also weighing down the Aussie are internel stress points for household spending and saving, outlined by the RBA's Michele Bullock: "The historically high levels of mortgage debt in Australia raises questions about the resilience of household balance sheets to a change in circumstances and the ability of the financial system to absorb a widespread increase in household financial stress."
More of the same wait-and-see rhetoric can be expected from the RBA when they drop their Meeting Minutes at 00:30 GMT today, but Wage Growth Index figures on Wednesday at 00:30 could give some insight into how the Australian economy can be expected to perform going forward.
AUD/USD Technicals
As noted by FXStreet's own Valeria Bednarik in her AUD/USD analysis, "the pair bounced again on an approach to the 0.7890 level, a major Fibonacci support, as the level stands for the 38.2% retracement of the December/January rally, keeping the downside limited as long as the pair remains above it. The lack of volatility has left the intraday picture neutral, as the pair is below a bullish 20 SMA, while technical indicators hover around their mid-lines with limited directional strength.
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