A$ Underperforms On China & Late Session Equity Selloff, RBA Today’s Focus

The Aussie was the worst performer in the G10 on Monday as commodity currencies generally underperformed. It was weighed down by news of China’s conservative 2023 growth target and then held down by the late session sell off in US equities. AUDUSD is currently trading around 0.6728 after a low of 0.6716. The USD index traded sideways.

• The February downtrend in AUDUSD remains in place and the recent correction reinforces this. The initial support and bear trigger is at 0.6695, the March 1 low.
• AUDNZD was only down 0.1% to 1.0870 as kiwi was impacted by Monday’s themes too. Aussie was down 0.5% against the yen to 91.49. AUDEUR is a 1% lower at 0.6302 and AUDGBP -0.4% to 0.5598.
• Despite the late session sell off, the S&P was still up 0.1% while the Eurostoxx rose 0.4%. Oil prices recovered from the China-related sell off earlier and Brent is 0.6% higher to $86.32/bbl. Copper is up 0.2% and iron ore is $125.30/t.
• Today the focus is on the RBA. Attention will be on the statement, as a 25bp hike is widely expected and almost fully priced in. See MNI RBA Preview - March 2023. There is also January trade data where the trade surplus is expected to be stable around $12.25bn.