The Australian dollar (AUD) weakened against the US dollar (USD) amid rising risk aversion amid growing concerns over US-China trade tensions. The AUD/USD pair failed to gain support from the Judo Bank Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) released on Wednesday. The Judo Bank Australia Composite PMI rose to 51.1 in January from 50.2 in December, reflecting modest growth in private sector activity. Meanwhile, the Judo Bank Services PMI rose to 51.2 from 50.8, marking the twelfth straight month of expansion in the services sector. Despite the modest growth, it was the strongest since August. The...
The Japanese Yen (JPY) maintained its bullish bias through the early European session on Wednesday (February 5), with the USD/JPY pair holding just above the 153.00 mark, its lowest level since December 13. A rise in Japanese real wages reaffirmed bets that the Bank of Japan (BOJ) will raise interest rates again, which in turn, provided a strong boost to the JPY. Moreover, prospects for further policy easing by the Federal Reserve (Fed) would result in a further narrowing of the interest rate differential between the US and Japan. This turned out to be another factor driving flows towards...
Oil prices fell on Wednesday as rising US inventories and market concerns about a renewed China-US trade war offset President Donald Trump's renewed push to eliminate Iranian crude exports. Brent crude fell 21 cents, or 0.28%, to $75.99 a barrel by 0701 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 11 cents, or 0.15%, to $72.59. Crude prices traded in a wide range on Tuesday, with WTI down at one point as much as 3%, the lowest since December 31, after China announced tariffs on US oil, liquefied natural gas and coal imports in retaliation for US levies on Chinese exports. But prices...