Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) cautious optimism, amid the virus-led lockdowns and energy crisis, highlights Australia’s second-quarter (Q2) Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures, up for publishing at 01:30 GMT on Wednesday, for the AUD/USD pair traders.
The recent data from Australia portray a mixed picture as downbeat housing market data and labor participation rate contrasts with upbeat export growth and consumer spending. Even with these statistics in mind, the Aussie Q2 GDP is likely to print slightly better figures.
That said, forecasts suggest the annualized pace of economic growth to come in at 3.5%, above the previous period's 3.3%, while the quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) numbers could mark the 1.0% growth figures versus 0.8% prior.
Ahead of the outcome, Westpac said:
The reopening from COVID-19 lockdowns and fewer instances weather/virus disruptions should support activity. Consumer spending will be the key addition to growth; business investment should lift too, though weakness in housing and public demand will be evident. Westpac’s revised forecast of 1.1% QoQ, 3.6% YoY is slightly higher than the market median of 0.9% quarterly.
AUD/USD takes offers to refresh intraday low around 0.6715, rushing towards the yearly bottom surrounding 0.6680, as risk-aversion joins hawkish Fed bets to propel the US dollar during early Wednesday.
That said, Australia’s Q2 GDP is likely to carry less importance for the pair traders, considering the present focus on the risk-aversion and hawkish Fed bets. Also likely to dilute the importance of the data is the latest Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) monetary policy meeting that stated household spending is “an important source of uncertainty,” while suggesting a slower pace of rate hikes moving forward.
Hence, positive data from Australia might offer a knee-jerk rebound in the AUD/USD prices but not affect the overall bearish trend. On the contrary, downbeat figures won’t hesitate to please bears with a fresh multi-month low.
Technically, a clear downside break of the two-month-old horizontal support area surrounding 0.6770-60 directs the AUD/USD prices towards the yearly low near 0.6680. However, any further downside won’t hesitate to test the downward sloping support line from May near 0.6550.
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The Gross Domestic Product released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics is a measure of the total value of all goods and services produced by Australia. The GDP is considered a broad measure of economic activity and health. A rising trend has a positive effect on the AUD, while a falling trend is seen as negative (or bearish) for the AUD.