Australian Dollar After RBA's Hunter Hawkish Remarks

(RTTNews) - The Australian dollar strengthened against other major currencies in the Asian session on Wednesday, as the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) kept the door open for additional monetary policy tightening, if necessary, to bring inflation back to the central bank's target.

The RBA Assistant Governor Sarah Hunter stated that the central bank will take necessary action to bring inflation back to target, even if there hasn't been a noticeable slowdown in economic activity as a result of the current oil shock.

The RBA has already raised interest rates by 25 basis points (bps) three times this year, bringing the Official Cash Rate (OCR) to 4.35%.

Traders await the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) minutes of the June policy meeting, due later in the day. Investors focus on the FOMC minutes to get fresh cues regarding the Federal Reserve's (Fed) monetary policy outlook.

Crude oil prices spiked as concerns of fresh U.S.-Iran conflicts surfaced after attacks on at least three tankers in the Strait of Hormuz. West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery was up $2.01 or 2.93 percent at $70.56 per barrel.

In the Asian trading today, the Australian dollar rose to nearly a 2-week high of 1.6434 against the euro, from yesterday's closing value of 1.6471. The aussie may test resistance around the 1.62 region.

Against the U.S. dollar, the aussie advanced to 0.6947 from an early 5-day low of 0.6920. The aussie may test resistance around the 0.71 region.

Against the yen and the Canadian dollar, the aussie edged up to 112.76 and 0.9859 from Tuesday's closing quotes of 112.39 and 0.9833, respectively. If the aussie extends its uptrend, it is likely to find resistance around 114.00 against the yen and 0.99 against the loonie.

Looking ahead, U.S. MBA weekly mortgage approvals data, U.S. used car prices data for June, and U.S. EIA weekly crude oil data are slated for release in the New York session.

At 2:00 pm ET, the minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest FOMC meeting is due to be released.