AUD/USD renews intraday high above 0.6900 on RBA Minutes, US PMI in focus

• AUD/USD picks up bids to extend the bounce off intraday low on RBA Minutes.
• RBA Minutes reject speculations favoring a pause in the rate hikes in February.
• Mixed sentiment, full markets may probe bulls ahead of US PMIs for February.

AUD/USD picks up bids to reverse initial Asian session losses to 0.6910, taking a U-turn from the intraday low to refresh the daily top near 0.6920, as the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) rules out dovish hopes on early Tuesday. In doing so, the Aussie pair also marks a late reaction to Australia’s activity data for February. However, the cautious mood ahead of the first readings for the US February PMIs and the return of the full markets seem to probe the traders of late.

The latest RBA Meeting Minutes signaled that the monetary policy board a hike of 25 basis points (bps) or 50bp but not discussed a pause in the rate hikes.

Also read: RBA minutes: The board agreed that additional rate hikes were likely in the coming months

Earlier in the day, Australia’s preliminary readings of the S&P Global PMIs for February came in firmer as Manufacturing PMI rose to 50.1, versus 49.9 expected and 50.0 prior while the Services PMI increased to 49.2 from 48.6 previous readings and 48.4 market forecasts. Further, the S&P Global Composite PMI also improved to 49.2 from 48.5.

It should be noted that the cautious sentiment on the return of the full markets and geopolitical fears surrounding China and North Korea seem to probe the AUD/USD bulls. On the same line could be the hawkish bias about the Fed and the recently firmer US Treasury bond yields, which put a floor under the US Dollar.

Recently, the US and China alleged each other over the balloon shooting whereas the US diplomatic ties with Taiwan teased Beijing. On the same line, the United Nations (UN) Security Council is alarmed by Japan for North Korea’s missile testing and the same weigh on the sentiment, as well as the AUD/USD price.

While portraying the mood, S&P 500 Futures print mild losses near 4,075 amid sluggish US 10-year Treasury bond yields. Even so, the benchmark US bond coupons are near the highest levels marked since early November 2022.

Should the scheduled US PMIs appear firmer than what marked in January, also manage to cross the 50.0 mark despite unimpressive expectations, the odds of witnessing further US Dollar strength and the AUD/USD weakness can’t be ruled out.

Technical analysis

Unless breaking the the 200-DMA, around 0.6800 by the press time, AUD/USD remains on the way to a 13-day-old resistance line, close to 0.6950 at the latest.