AUD/USD clings to 0.7150 as markets enjoy extended weekend

• Buyers remain present despite the Aussie market closed.
• The US housing data will be in focus after Friday’s soft reading.

The AUD/USD pair trades near 0.7150 during early Asian sessions on Monday. The pair carried its Good Friday gains forward as lack of data and major market closure, except Japan, China and Singapore, due to Easter Monday confined trade sentiment. The US Chicago Fed National activity index and existing home sales are the only readings up for grabs during the US session.

Even if the majority of the global markets were off on Friday, the US Dollar trimmed some of its previous gains as the US building permits and housing starts flashed soft numbers for March month. The housing starts lagged well behind 6.5% market consensus to 0.3% whereas building permits also softened to 1.27 million versus 1.29 million revised prior readout.

Adding to the Aussie bounce could be 100-day simple moving average (SMA) that has been acting as strong support since April 16.

While markets in Australia are closed the US data and developments in China can become the key drivers of the AUD/USD pair.

The trade negotiations between the US and China are going well and can keep offering signals of a deal, which in turn can please the Aussie buyers. However, upbeat prints of the US data and/or negative surprises from the trade talk might disappoint the optimists.

The US Chicago Fed National activity index earlier dropped to -0.29 whereas existing home sales are likely to decline to 5.30 million against 5.51 million prior.

AUD/USD Technical Analysis

100-day SMA level of 0.7135, followed by 0.7110 comprising 50-day SMA and an ascending support-line at 0.7095, can limit the pair’s near-term downside.

Alternatively, buyers need to conquer 200-day SMA level of 0.7190 in order to justify their strength in targeting 0.7230 and January highs near 0.7300.