Australian Dollar Weakens On Fed Tightening Fears

(RTTNews) - The Australian dollar fell against its major counterparts in the Asian session on Monday, as Asian stocks followed Wall Street lower on concerns that the Federal Reserve may pursue a more aggressive policy tightening to bring inflation down.

Data from Labor Department showed on Friday that the U.S. consumer price index rose to a four-decade high of 8.6 percent in May, beating economists' expectations of 8.3 percent.

Treasury yields surged across the curve, with the two-year yield hitting 3.1940 percent, the highest level since late 2007.

The data renewed worries that inflation may not be peaking, forcing the Fed to adopt a more aggressive policy response and trigger a recession.

With the Fed set to meet this week, some economists fear that the central bank could hike interest rates by as much as 75 basis points to contain inflationary pressures.

The aussie dropped to more than a 3-week low of 0.7001 against the greenback, after rising to 0.7044 in early deals. Next key support for the aussie is likely seen around the 0.68 level.

The aussie slipped a 1-week low of 1.1059 against the kiwi and near a 4-week low of 0.8970 against the loonie, off its early highs of 1.1091 and 0.9009, respectively. The aussie is poised to find support around 1.09 against the kiwi and 0.88 against the loonie.

The Australian currency eased off to 94.42 against the yen, from a high of 94.98 seen at 12 am ET. The aussie is seen finding support around the 93.00 level.

The aussie edged down to 1.4971 against the euro around 6:30 pm ET, but it has since rebounded to 1.4907. The pair was worth 1.4925 at Friday's close.