The Australian dollar steadied around $0.674, halting a recent decline amid firm expectations that the US Federal Reserve will start cutting interest rates in September, with two more reductions seen before the end of the year.

Earlier this week, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said that recent data "add somewhat to confidence" that inflation will return to target and that the central bank will not wait until inflation hits 2% before cutting rates. Domestically, investors have also dialed back bets for a Reserve Bank of Australia rate hike, although the central bank is still expected to ease policy much later than its peers. Investors now look ahead to Australian employment numbers later in the week to gauge the state of the labor market.

Source: Trading Economics