AUD/USD consolidates near 0.6500 as focus shifts to RBA policy

AUD/USD trades sideways near 0.6500 ahead of the RBA policy.
The near-term demand for the US Dollar is sluggish due to the risk-off mood.
An interest rate hike of 25 bps is expected from the RBA.

Sagar Dua FXStreet

The AUD/USD pair juggles in a narrow range near the psychological hurdle of 0.6500 in the early New York session. The Aussie asset turns sideways as investors await the interest rate decision by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), which will be announced on Tuesday.

The S&P500 opens on a slightly bullish note amid an upbeat market mood due to no further escalation in the Middle East tensions. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected calls for a ceasefire when met with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday. Apart from that, expectations that the Federal Reserve (Fed) is done with hiking interest rates have ramped up after soft labor demand.

Meanwhile, the US Dollar Index (DXY) discovers an intermediate support near 105.00 but the near-term demand is sluggish due to risk-off mood and rising bets for interest rates remaining unchanged in the range of 5.25-5.50%. As per the CME Fedwatch tool, traders see more than 90% in favor of an unchanged interest rate decision from the Fed in December.

This week, investors will focus on commentaries from Fed policymakers over guidance on interest rates and outlook on consumer inflation.

On the Australian Dollar front, a Reuters poll showed that RBA policymakers advocate for raising its Official Cash Rate (OCR) by 25 basis points (bps) to 4.35%. This could be the first hike from new RBA Governor Michele Bullock who earlier said the central bank would not hesitate to hike further if inflation continues to remain persist.

AUD/USD

Overview
Today last price	0.6501
Today Daily Change	-0.0012
Today Daily Change %	-0.18
Today daily open	0.6513

Trends
Daily SMA20	0.6363
Daily SMA50	0.6394
Daily SMA100	0.6515
Daily SMA200	0.6622

Levels
Previous Daily High	0.6518
Previous Daily Low	0.642
Previous Weekly High	0.6518
Previous Weekly Low	0.6315
Previous Monthly High	0.6445
Previous Monthly Low	0.627
Daily Fibonacci 38.2%	0.6481
Daily Fibonacci 61.8%	0.6458
Daily Pivot Point S1	0.6449
Daily Pivot Point S2	0.6385
Daily Pivot Point S3	0.635
Daily Pivot Point R1	0.6548
Daily Pivot Point R2	0.6582
Daily Pivot Point R3	0.6646

Author

Sagar Dua

FXStreet

Sagar Dua is associated with the financial markets from his college days. Along with pursuing post-graduation in Commerce in 2014, he started his markets training with chart analysis.

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