The Australian dollar has opened the new trading week under pressure

Get the Full StoryThe Australian dollar has opened the new trading week under pressure, undermined by a slump in iron ore prices, a tightening in the polls ahead of the UK general election, reports of another missile test in North Korea this morning and unsettling comments from European political leaders following last weekend's G7 meeting in Italy.

Along with an upward revision to US Q1 GDP on Friday, these factors have all acted in tandem to place downward pressure on the Aussie, not only against the US dollar but also against the major crosses.

Here's the scoreboard as at 7.50am AEST.

AUD USD 0.7436 , -0.001 , -0.13

AUD JPY 82.72 , -0.11 , -0.13

AUD CNH 5.0713 , 0.0006 , 0.01

AUD EUR 0.6653 , 0.0004 , 0.06

AUD GBP 0.5802 , -0.0002 , -0.03

AUD NZD 1.0539 , -0.0009 , -0.09

With China, the US and UK all off enjoying long weekends, and with nothing on the local or regional data calendars to speak of, Monday looks set to be a quiet session for Aussie dollar traders in Asia.

If there's going to be any movement, it'll likely be driven by sentiment along with movements in the USD JPY -- often influential on the broader US dollar index in Asia.

There's also no major data scheduled for release in Europe or North America, hinting that markets may bide their time ahead of key economic and central bank events that are scheduled to arrive later in the week.

Here's the AUD USD hourly chart.

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