Australian Dollar Advances As Risk Appetite Revives

The Australian dollar climbed against its major counterparts in the Asian session on Tuesday, as a drop in oil prices soothed some of the fears about inflation and tightening of monetary policy.

Oil prices declined after overnight data showed that U.S. industrial production fell unexpectedly in September, reducing expectations about the demand growth.

Investors continue to cheer solid earnings results and a fall in treasury yields, which helped recede risks of a stagflationary economy.

The minutes from the Reserve Bank of Australia's latest monetary policy meeting showed that the board remained committed to maintain highly supportive monetary conditions to achieve a return to full employment and inflation consistent with the target.

The board reiterated that it will not increase the cash rate until actual inflation is sustainably within the 2 to 3 percent target range.

The aussie firmed to more than 5-month highs of 85.26 against the yen and 1.5583 against the euro, from Monday's closing values of 84.69 and 1.5658, respectively. The currency is likely to locate resistance around 88.00 against the yen and 1.51 against the euro.

The aussie touched near a 4-week high of 0.9216 against the loonie and a 1-1/2-month high of 0.7476 against the greenback, up from yesterday's closing quotes of 0.9171 and 0.7409, respectively. If the aussie rises further, 0.94 and 0.78 are possibly seen as its next resistance levels against the loonie and the greenback, respectively.

The aussie rebounded to 1.0466 against the kiwi, from nearly a 2-week low of 1.0443 set at 11:10 pm ET. On the upside, 1.06 is possibly seen as its next resistance level.

Looking ahead, Eurozone construction output for August is scheduled for release in the European session.

U.S. building permits and housing starts for September are set for release in the New York session.