Glenn Stevens, the governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia shrugged off the US criticism, saying that commenting on whether or not the currency was properly priced was "absolutely" consistent with Australia's long-standing support for free and open currency markets. And he drily noted that, unlike central banks in the United States, Japan and the Eurozone, the Reserve Bank had not adopted unorthodox monetary policies – such as massive bond buying programs – in an effort to push the local currency lower.
In the US session Existing Home Sales figures were published. The Pending Home Sales Index rose 3.5% to 109.1 in February from a downwardly revised 105.4 in January and is now 0.7% above February 2015 (108.3). Analysts were anticipating 1.2% increase. Although the index has now increased year-over-year for 18 consecutive months, last month's annual gain was the smallest. Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, says pending sales made promising strides in February, rising to the highest index reading since last July (109.8).
There will be no data releases from Australia tomorrow. In the US session CB Consumer Confidence figures will be published. Analysts forecast increase to 93.9.
Figures to watch:
CB Consumer Confidence (Tuesday 15:00)
