Forex Pros – The Australian dollar tumbled to a six-week low against its U.S. counterpart on Tuesday, as mounting fears over Japan’s escalating nuclear emergency sparked a flight to safety.
AUD/USD hit 0.9926 during late Asian trade, the pair’s lowest since January 31; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.9957, tumbling 1.39%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.9830, the low of January 20 and resistance at 1.0126, Monday’s high.
Earlier in the day, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said there was a high risk of elevated levels of radiation from a reactor at the Fukushima nuclear power plant that exploded and urged people within 30 kilometers of the plant to stay indoors.
Authorities said an explosion at the No. 2 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, located 155 miles northeast of Tokyo, appears to have caused damage. Some staff had been evacuated from the facility as radiation levels at the site rose sharply.
The Aussie was also sharply lower against the euro, with EUR/AUD soaring 0.93% to hit 1.3983.
Also Tuesday, the minutes of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s March 1 meeting showed that policymakers saw slower borrowing by households and businesses as offsetting a mining investment boom when they decided to keep interest rates unchanged.
ForexPros.com
