Via HSBC:
AUD-USD threatening a breach back below the psychological 0.80 level. This softness in the AUD comes despite a weaker USD in early European trading and strong local manufacturing data overnight.
- Australian manufacturing is seeing a strong start to the year as most sub-measures of the AiG Manufacturing Performance Index rose.
- The main index lifted to 58.7 in January from 56.2 previously, with production up 5.7 points to 62.7 and new orders up 1.0 points to 58.8.
- Even so, the healthy figures have left little impression on the AUD, which looks set to revisit a 0.79 handle.
AUD-USD’s impressive rally from 0.75 in mid-December to 0.81 in late January may finally be set for a correction.
- Near-term support below 0.80 comes in at 0.7916.
In the note, while not specifically on the AUD, HSBC discuss the China manufacturing PMI yesterday … China data impacts AUD of course:China’s Caixin Manufacturing PMI figure came in better than expected at 51.5 vs Reuters consensus of 51.3.
