AUD/USD continues to bleed below a mild-bearish 20 DMA

• AUD/USD has started out the week on the backfoot, extending the latter part of last week’s losses from 0.7168.
• AUD/USD is currently trading at 0.7077, a touch off the opening low of 0.7075 from 0.7084 highs.

AUD was offered against the dollar on Friday as the market rekindled global growth concerns which sent stocks and risk-FX in reverse. First, German PMI disappointed which weighed on risk appetite and then the US PMI data coming in below expectations was the nail in the coffin for the Aussie.  

Commodity prices weighed

Also, “concerns of weaker global growth weighed on the commodity complex, with most sectors ending in the red on Friday. This closed out a volatile week, with underlying supply issues affecting markets earlier in the week. This resulted in the ANZ China Commodity Index ending the week down 0.3%. The industrials sector suffered the most from the growth concerns, ending the week down 1.1%,” analysts at ANZ explained.  

Meanwhile, the details of the Australian employment report were less impressive, although the drop in the unemployment rate was encouraging and probably sees the RBA on hold for longer.  

Week ahead

“It’s a fairly quiet week ahead in Australia, with no major data due, though RBA’s Ellis speaks at a housing conference. The lull in Australia’s data calendar might work to AUD’s advantage, so we could see an extension towards 0.72 if the US$ is held back by the shift in Fed pricing. But Brexit turmoil poses an ongoing danger to the risk-sensitive Aussie,” analysts at Westpac explained.

AUD/USD levels

Valeria Bednarik, Chief Analyst at FXStreet explained that the pair offers a bearish technical stance in its daily chart:

“It closed Friday below a mild-bearish 20 DMA after flirting with a directionless 100 DMA early in the week, meeting strong selling interest around it. The 200 DMA maintains its bearish slope above the other two, while technical indicators turned lower after a failed attempt to advance in positive ground. The RSI indicator currently stands at 46, anticipating another leg lower ahead.”

“In the shorter term, and according to the 4 hours chart, the risk is also skewed to the downside, with the pair holding just a couple of pips above a bearish 100 SMA, but now below the 20 and 200 SMA, both converging around 0.7100 and reinforcing the static resistance level, while technical indicators keep gaining downward traction within negative levels.”