AUD Offered as RBA Sees Room for Further Rate Compression

AUD underperforms, with a speech from RBA Assistant Governor Kent providing some near-term weight. He stated that there is still room for the central bank to "compress" short-term rates, raising the risk of further cuts to the RBA cash rate. AUD/USD slipped on decent volume to fall through 0.7050 support and hit new multi-week lows of $0.7031. Selling pressure in the AUD bled into the NZD, with both currencies at the bottom of the G10 pile this morning.

USD's bouncing slightly off the Monday lows, but there's been no meaningful recovery in the greenback. GBP and the EUR are benefiting moderately, but both currencies are yet to top yesterday's highs vs. the USD.

US housing starts are the data highlight Tuesday, with the speaker schedule likely to prove more interesting. ECB's de Cos, Fed's Evans, Quarles, Brainard & Bostic are all due to speak.