2019.03.2603:35:00UTC+00Australian Dollar Climbs On Receding U.S. Recession Fears

The Australian dollar strengthened against its major counterparts in the Asian session on Tuesday amid rising risk appetite, as an uptick in U.S. 10-year Treasury yields helped ease worries over a possible U.S. recession.

U.S. Treasury yields edged up after a two-day tumble, which was its lowest level since 2017.

U.S. economic growth is slowing but is still robust, Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans said on Monday. He put the chances of a recession at no more than 25 percent.

Separately, former U.S. Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen said at a Credit Suisse forum on Asian investment that the slowdown in U.S. growth is something that was long expected and it is unlikely to drop to a level that will cause a recession.

Meanwhile, ahead of another round of trade talks set to begin in Beijing this week, former U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew told CNBC that resolving the remaining sticking points will be a rocky process.

The aussie strengthened to a 5-day high of 0.7129 against the greenback and near a 4-week high of 1.5871 against the euro, off its early lows of 0.7107 and 1.5918, respectively. If the aussie rises further, 0.73 and 1.57 are likely seen as its next resistance levels against the greenback and the euro, respectively.

The aussie reversed from its early lows of 78.13 against the yen and 1.0277 against the kiwi, rising to 4-day highs of 78.52 and 1.0321, respectively. The aussie is likely to find resistance around 80.00 against the yen and 1.05 against the kiwi.

The aussie edged up to 0.9544 against the loonie, coming off from an early low of 0.9524. The aussie is seen finding resistance around the 0.965 level.

Looking ahead, U.K. mortgage approvals for February are due in the European session.

In the New York session, U.S. housing starts and building permits for February, consumer confidence index for March and S&P/Case-Shiller home price index for January are scheduled for release.