AUD/USD plummets over 100-pips after China moves to ban Australian coal imports

   “¢   Upbeat Aussie jobs data-led uptick turns out to be short-lived.
   “¢   China moves to ban Australian coal imports at its Dalian port.
   “¢   The news prompts some aggressive selling around the Aussie.

The AUD/USD pair faded an early Asian session bullish spiked to over two-week tops, levels just above the 0.7200 handle, and tumbled to fresh weekly lows in the last hour.

The pair initially got a minor boost from a stronger than expected Aussie jobs report but then came under some intense selling pressure after China moved to ban Australian coal imports at its Dalian port. The pair plunged around 120-pips in reaction to the news, taking along some short-term trading stops near the 0.7140-30 region and the 0.7100 round figure mark.  

The latest development clearly revealed deteriorating diplomatic relations between the two countries and was seen as one of the key factors exerting some heavy downward pressure on the China-proxy Australian Dollar, with a subdued US Dollar price action doing little to lend any support or stall the sharp intraday slump.  

Given that the pair hasn’t been able to attract any buying interest clearly indicates that the bearish pressure might still be far from over and hence, a follow-through weakness, possibly towards challenging the key 0.70 psychological mark, now looks a distinct possibility.

Moving ahead, today’s US economic docket, highlighting the release of durable goods orders data, might influence the USD price dynamics and produce some meaningful trading opportunities later during the early North-American session.

Technical levels to watch