AUD/USD pushes below 0.7150 as DXY turns green after ADP data

• ADP data shows a higher-than-expected employment growth in September.
• US Dollar Index advances to 95.60.
• Coming up: IHS Markit and ISM service sector employment reports.

The AUD/USD continued to edge lower in the early trading hours of the NA session and touched its lowest level in more than three weeks at 0.7140. As of writing, the pair was down 0.6% on the day at 0.7145.

Earlier today, the data released by  the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that building permits declined by 9.4% on a monthly basis in August following July’s 5.2% fall and dragged the annual change down to -13.6% to trigger a heavy AUD sell-off. Although the AUD/USD pair seemed like it was attempting to start correcting its losses, another USD buying wave kept the bearish pressure intact.

According to the ADP, private sector employment rose by 230K in September to surpass the market expectation of 185K. Commenting on the data,   “The healthy growth in ADP  employment will keep expectations intact for a robust September employment report on Friday with expectations reaching beyond the 188,000 consensus forecast,” FXStreet Senior Analyst Joseph Trevisani said.

Later in the session, the ISM and the IHS Markit will be publishing  the non-manufacturing PMI data. Also in the NA session, FOMC Members Brainard, Mester, and Chairman Powell are scheduled to deliver speeches. Ahead of these events, the US Dollar Index was up 0.14% on the day at 95.60.

Technical levels to consider

The pair could face the first support at 0.7085 (Sep. 11 low), 0.7000 (psychological level) and 0.6970 (Feb. 9, 2016, low). On the upside, resistances are located at 0.7200 (psychological level/20-DMA), 0.7245 (50-DMA) and 0.7330 (100-DMA).