(RTTNews) - The Australian dollar strengthened against other major currencies in the Asian session on Monday amid risk appetite, as traders reacted to upbeat U.S. inflation data and a drop in treasury yields, which may have helped mitigate any negative response to the inflation data. They are also cautious and indulge in some bargain hunting ahead of the U.S. Fed's monetary policy announcement in two days.
Markets also anticipate that the Reserve Bank of Australia is likely to implement three cash rate hikes throughout 2024.
Gains in technology and financial stocks also led to the upturn of investor sentiment.
Crude oil prices edged higher on optimism about the outlook for oil demand and concerns about supply. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended higher by $0.28 or 0.34 percent at $83.85 a barrel. WTI crude futures gained 0.85 percent in the week.
In the Asian trading now, the Australian dollar rose to a 11-year high of 104.94 against the yen, nearly a 1-year high of 1.1014 against the NZ dollar and nearly a 4-month high of 1.6291 against the euro, from Friday's closing quotes of 103.41, 1.0997 and 1.6361, respectively. If the aussie extends its uptrend, it is likely to find resistance around 105.00 against the yen, 1.11 against the kiwi and 1.61 against the euro.
Against the U.S. and the Canadian dollars, the aussie advanced to near 3-week highs of 0.6587 and 0.8980 from last week's closing quotes of 0.6533 and 0.8929, respectively. On the upside, 0.67 against the greenback and 0.90 against the loonie are seen as the next resistance levels for the aussie.
Looking ahead, Eurozone business and consumer sentiment indices for April are due to be released at 5:00 am ET in the European session.
In the New York session, U.S. Dallas Fed Manufacturing business Index for April is slated for release.
