Australian Dollar Rises As Traders Focus On RBA Rate Decision

The Australian dollar strengthened against other major currencies in the Asian session on Monday, as the traders await the Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA) upcoming interest rate decision scheduled for Tuesday.

The RBA is expected to keep the Official Cash Rate (OCR) steady at 4.35 percent in the monetary policy meeting due on Tuesday, supported by robust labor market data and ongoing inflationary pressures.

China's central bank lowered a short-term policy rate and pumped more liquidity into the financial system in a bid to boost the world's second-largest economy. The People's Bank of China (PBoC) cut the 14-day reverse repurchase interest rate to 1.85 percent from 1.95 percent. The bank injected CNY 74.5 billion via the policy tool.

The bank also conducted seven-day reverse repurchase operations of CNY 160.1 billion at an interest rate of 1.70 percent. The bank had previously reduced the seven-day reverse repo rate by 10 basis points in July

Oil extended gains, after having jumped around 4 percent last week on hopes that lower borrowing costs would support global economic growth and demand.

Middle East tensions remain in play as Israel continued to carry out strikes in Gaza and Lebanon, raising concerns of an all-out war in the region.

Hezbollah launched more than 100 rockets early Sunday across a wider and deeper area of northern Israel after the country allegedly detonated several electronic devices used by the Lebanese group.

In economic news, data from Judo Bank showed that the manufacturing sector in Australia continued to contract in September, and at a faster pace, with a manufacturing PMI score of 46.7. That's down from 48.5 in August.

The composite index sank to 49.8, down from 51.7 a month earlier.

In the Asian trading today, the Australian dollar rose to nearly a 3-week high of 98.61 against the yen and a 4-day high of 1.6332 against the euro, from Friday's closing quotes of 97.95 and 1.6398, respectively. If the aussie extends its uptrend, it is likely to find resistance around 100.00 against the yen and 1.62 against the euro.

Against the U.S., the Canada and the New Zealand dollars, the aussie advanced to 4-day highs of 0.6387, 0.9270 and 1.0946 from last week's closing quotes of 0.6806, 0.9235 and 1.0911, respectively. The aussie may test resistance near 0.69 against the greenback, 0.93 against the loonie and 1.10 against the kiwi.

Looking ahead, the Confederation of British Industry is slated to publish monthly Industrial Trends survey data at 6:00 am ET. The order book balance is seen at -23 percent compared in September to -22 percent in August.

In the New York session, Canada new housing price index for August, U.S. Chicago Fed national activity index for August and U.S. S&P Global flash PMI data for September are slated for release.