Australian Dollar Falls As Asian Shares Traded Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian dollar weakened against other major currencies in the Asian session on Wednesday, after most Asian stock markets traded lower, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, as the markets react to earnings news from several big-name U.S. companies.

Traders are also cautious ahead of some crucial economic data from the U.S., including a report on price inflation, and central bank decisions that could impact the outlook for interest rates.

In economic news, the manufacturing sector in Australia climbed up into expansion territory in January, the latest survey from Judo Bank revealed on Wednesday with a manufacturing PMI score of 50.3. That's up from 47.6 in December and it moves above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

Also, the services PMI improved to 47.9 in January from 47.1 in December and the composite index rose to 48.1 from 46.9.

Crude oil futures eased amid uncertainty about the outlook for global oil demand and after Libya restarted production at the Sharara oilfield, which was shut for two weeks due to protests. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March fell $0.39 or 0.5 percent at $74.37 a barrel.

In the Asian trading now, the Australian dollar fell to a 6-day low of 97.05 against the yen and a 2-day low of 1.0770 against the NZ dollar, from yesterday's closing quotes of 97.62 and 1.0777, respectively. If the aussie extends its downtrend, it is likely to find support around 96.00 against the yen and 1.06 against the kiwi.

The aussie slipped to 1.6543 against the euro, from yesterday's closing value of 1.6480. On the downside, 1.67 is seen as the next support level for the aussie.

Against the U.S. and the Canadian dollars, the aussie edged down to 0.6566 and 0.8848 from Tuesday's closing quotes of 0.6578 and 0.8853, respectively. The aussie may test support near 0.64 against the greenback and 0.87 against the loonie.

Looking ahead, PMI reports for January from U.K. and various European economies, U.K. Confederation of British Industry's Industrial Trends survey data for January are slated for release in the European session.

In the New York session, U.S. MBA mortgage approvals data, U.S. S&P Global manufacturing PMI for January and U.S. EIA crude oil data are set to be published.

At 10:00 am ET, the Bank of Canada will announce its monetary policy decision. The bank is expected to leave its key overnight rate unchanged at 5 percent.