- AUD/USD seesaws in a choppy range between 0.6590 and 0.6605 in the last few hours.
- Australia’s Commonwealth Bank PMIs recently flashed mixed signals.
- The risk-on sentiment, broad US dollar weakness propelled the quote to refresh 10-week high the previous day.
- RBA Governor Philip Lowe, updates on the virus, Aussie-China and the US-Sino tension will be the key.
AUD/USD keeps the 0.6590-0.6605 range while taking rounds to 0.6593 amid the early Asian session on Thursday. While the Aussie pair’s latest pullback, within the range, could be traced to the Commonwealth Bank PMIs, broad risk-on sentiment favored the quote to visit March 09 high the previous day.
The preliminary readings of the Commonwealth Bank’s May month PMIs flashed mixed readings off-late. The headlines Manufacturing PMI slipped well below 46.5 forecast and 44.1 previous to 42.8 but Services PMI recovered from 19.5 prior readouts to 25.5. As a result, Composite PMI improved from 21.7 to 26.4.
In addition to the mixed activity numbers, Reuters’ report that the global coronavirus (COVID-19) cases crossed five million mark with a surge South American numbers exerts additional downside pressure on the Aussie pair.
Even so, Global Times’ signal of no more Aussie-China tussle is likely restricting the downside off-late. The state-backed media emphasized on the Australian Agricultural Minister’s refrain to call a trade war while suggesting a halt in further punitive measures for the Pacific nation. Though, the news doesn’t step back from warning against any allegation on the virus outbreak.
It’s worth mentioning that the broad US dollar weakness, as well as a run-up in the Wall Street benchmarks, also favored the AUD/USD prices. The greenback seems to have been bearing the burden of the virus outbreak and downbeat data while also ignoring the latest FOMC minutes that defied calls of negative Fed rates. On the other hand, global policymakers’ rush to suggest further easing seemed to help the US stocks.
That said the US 10-year Treasury yields stay below 0.70%, recovering in the last hours of the US session, whereas S&P 500 Futures step back from the initial fall while taking rounds to 2,967.
Looking forward, RBA Governor Lowe is scheduled to speak at a web-based panel discussion at 02:30 GMT. The subject of the FINSIA webinar, “The Regulators: Priorities Updated”, signals that the RBA leader might hint for the central bank’s next move during the Q&A session, if not during the panel discussion, which in turn will be the key for the pair traders.
It should, however, be noted that any more updates on the Aussie-China or the US-China tussle, coupled with the virus news, could keep the driver’s seat ahead of the busy US session.
Technical analysis
Sustained trading beyond a 100-day SMA level of 0.6500 keeps the buyers hopeful of the pair’s further upside towards 0.6665, comprising 200-day SMA. However, any more run-up past-0.6665 may have to conquer March month top surrounding 0.6685/90 before meeting 0.6700 mark.
Share
