During the Asian session on Wednesday, the AUD/USD struggled to gain significant momentum and still encountered resistance near the two-week high of 0.6470-0.6475 hit the day before. AUD/USD remains range-bound, currently hovering around 0.6400, awaiting the resolution of the much-anticipated Federal Reserve policy meeting before embarking on the next directional fluctuation.
Traders expect the Federal Reserve (FED) to remain on hold, so market focus will be on forward guidance. With U.S. macro data showing strong performance and inflation remaining sluggish, the market has priced in the Federal Reserve raising interest rates by another 25 basis points before the end of this year. High U.S. bond yields appear to be supporting the U.S. dollar (USD) and bearish for AUD/USD.
However, the downside for AUD/USD appears to be supported as investors look for new clues on the path of future rate hikes by the Federal Reserve, which will help determine AUD/USD’s near-term moves. As such, focus will remain on the accompanying monetary policy statement and comments from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell at the post-meeting press conference. Meanwhile, traders opted to wait and see, leading to AUD/USD weakness.
At the same time, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) decided to keep the benchmark lending rate unchanged at the monthly fixed rate level, in line with market expectations, but the AUD/USD was little volatile. At the same time, there is speculation that the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) may have ended its interest rate hike cycle, so investors should proceed with caution until AUD/USD’s rebound from around 0.6355 (the year’s low hit earlier this month) continues.