AUD/USD retreats towards 0.6700 on downbeat RBA Minutes, PBOC inaction

• AUD/USD takes offers to refresh intraday low after RBA Minutes, PBOC rate announcement.
• RBA Board showed readiness to do what is necessary to tame inflation, PBOC keeps LPRs unchanged.
• Risk appetite weakens as full markets propel yields ahead of the key central banks’ announcements.
• Qualitative catalysts, second-tier housing data to entertain traders before Fed’s monetary policy announcements.

AUD/USD snaps a two-day uptrend while holding lower grounds near the daily bottom surrounding 0.6715 after the latest announcements from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and the People’s Bank of China. Also weighing on the Aussie pair could be the traders’ cautious mood amid full markets, after the week-start holidays in the UK and Japan.

RBA Minutes showed that the policymakers are well prepared for further rate hikes to tame inflation. However, the statements like, “Interest rates have increased quite quickly and were getting closer to normal settings,” seem to weigh on AUD/USD prices of late.

Also, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) keeps the one-year and five-year Loan Prime Rate (LPR) unchanged at 3.65% and 4.30% respectively, which in turn poured cold water on the face of expectations of a rate cut and weigh on Aussie prices.

Elsewhere, a run-up in the US Treasury yields and the fears surrounding the Sino-American tussles, not to forget the market’s anxiety ahead of Wednesday’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), seems to challenge the sentiment, as well as drown the AUD/USD.

Amid these plays, the US stock futures pare early Asian session gains and the US Treasury yields grind higher. It’s worth noting that the Japanese government bond yields rallied to the six-year high and portrayed the market’s rush towards risk-safety amid the fears of recession, as well as higher rates.

That said, AUD/USD traders may witness further downside amid the pre-Fed woes. However, today’s second-tier US housing data and chatters surrounding China can entertain traders.

Technical analysis

AUD/USD remains on the bear’s radar unless crossing a convergence of the two-week-old horizontal resistance area comprising the 50-SMA, around 0.6770.