Australian Dollar Advances On Recovery Hopes

The Australian dollar firmed against its major counterparts in Asian trading on Tuesday, as investors remained hopeful that economic growth in China will help support growth in the Asian region.

Data released on Monday showed that China's economy gathered momentum towards the end of 2020.

Janet Yellen will appear before the Senate Finance Committee for her confirmation hearing as Treasury Secretary.

Yellen is likely to urge them to "act big" to ramp up the recovery.

The inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden is due on Wednesday. Biden has set an ambitious goal of 100 million Covid vaccinations and mandating everyone to wear a mask to address the pandemic in his first 100 days in office.

The aussie climbed to 4-day highs of 80.31 against the yen and 0.7719 against the greenback, off its early lows of 79.53 and 0.7670, respectively. Next key resistance for the aussie is seen around 84.00 against the yen and 0.79 against the greenback.

The aussie rose to 1.5672 against the euro and 0.9830 against the loonie, from its early low of 1.5734 and more than a 2-week low of 0.9786, respectively. The aussie is likely to challenge resistance around 1.56 against the euro and 1.00 against the loonie.

The aussie spiked up to more than a 3-month high of 1.0819 against the kiwi, after falling to 1.0795 in early deals. On the upside, 1.10 is seen as its next resistance level.

Looking ahead, German ZEW economic sentiment for January is due out in the European session.

In the New York session, Canada manufacturing sales for November are set for release.