AUD/USD drops to 0.6850 as options market flashes bearish signals, China optimism fades

AUD/USD takes offers to refresh intraday low near 0.6850 during the mid-Asian session on Monday, reversing the early rebound by extending the previous day’s pullback from the highest levels in four months.

In doing so, the Aussie pair takes clues from the downbeat options market bias and the latest China news.

That said, the one-month risk reversal (RR) of the AUD/USD price, a gauge of the spread between the call and put options, prints the strongest bearish level of -0.025 in three days by the end of Friday’s North American session. With this, the weekly RR also prints the first negative close in three, with the latest figures being -0.040 by the press time.

Apart from the downbeat options market signals, the market’s fears of China’s slower economic recovery also weigh on the AUD/USD prices.

That said, Reuters came out with the news suggesting multiple banks cutting China’s growth forecasts to weigh on the AUD/USD price and reverse the week-start optimism after the US-China ties, as well as on news that Beijing braces for more stimulus.

“Nomura has cut its forecast for China's 2023 GDP growth to 5.1% from 5.5%, the Japanese bank said in a note on Friday, following similar moves by UBS, Standard Chartered, Bank of America and JPMorgan,” said Reuters.

Also read: AUD/USD bulls approach 0.6900 amid China-inspired optimism, focus on RBA Minutes, Fed Powell’s Testimony