- AUD/USD consolidates above 0.6450 after the US mixed employment data.
- Investors turn cautious on the expected 25 bps rate hike by the Fed, following the moderate employment figures.
- Aussie traders anticipate that the RBA will extend the rate pause for a second successive month.
AUD/USD recovers from the previous session’s losses, trading higher around 0.6460 during the Asian session on Monday. The pair experienced downward pressure due to mixed employment data from the United States (US) released on Friday. The moderate figures reinforce the possibility of no interest rate change by the US Federal Reserve (Fed) at the September meeting.
The US Nonfarm Payrolls report for August printed the reading of 187K, compared to the market consensus of 170K. The data reported 157K figure in the month of July. Average Hourly Earnings (Aug) declined to the rate of 4.3%, which was expected to remain consistent at 4.4% from the previous reading.
However, investors are still factoring in a 25 basis points (bps) rate hike by the US Federal Reserve (Fed), which acts as a headwind for the AUD/USD pair and limits the gains of the pair.
Market participants will watch the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) monetary policy meeting on Tuesday. The RBA is expected to extend the rate pause for the second consecutive month and defy the expected rate hike of a quarter basis points as the cost pressure in the country is easing.
US Dollar (USD), which measures the performance of the Greenback against six other major currencies, hovers around 104.20. Additionally, the improved US Treasury yields provided support to the buck, which closed at 4.18% on Friday. Market participants await additional guidance from the Fed regarding its upcoming policy decision as robust US Nonfarm Payrolls data raised the concerns around inflation outlook.
