AUD/USD climbs to daily highs near 0.7170, turns flat for the week

• AUD/USD continues to push higher in American session.
• US Dollar Index stays in the negative territory after US data releases.
• AUD/USD remains on track to finish the week little changed.

The renewed selling pressure surrounding the greenback helped the AUD/USD pair edge higher in the American session on Friday. As of writing, the pair was up 0.28% on the day at 0.7168. On a weekly basis, the pair looks to close virtually unchanged.

USD remains on track to end the week on a weak note

The US Census Bureau reported that Retail Sales in July rose by 1.2% on a monthly basis. This reading missed the market expectation of 1.9%. Additionally, the Federal Reserve announced that Industrial Production in July expanded by 3% in line with analysts’ estimate and the UoM’s Consumer Sentiment Index improved modestly from 72.5 to 72.8 in August.

Following these data releases, the US Dollar Index (DXY) turned south with the 10-year US Treasury bond yield dropping more than 4% on the day. At the moment, the DXY is down 0.15% at 93.11.

Meanwhile, Wall Street’s main indexes trade little changed on Friday, not providing any clues regarding risk sentiment and allowing the USD’s market valuation to remain as the primary driver of AUD/USD’s movements.

Earlier in the day, the Reserve Bank of Austalia’s (RBA) Governor Philip Lowe said that he would like to see AUD’s exchange rate lower but noted that the currency was not currently overvalued. Nevertheless, these comments suggest that the AUD’s gains could remain limited in the near-term.

Technical levels to watch for