AUD/USD rangebound below 0.7150 ahead of US GDP

• The Aussie trades without clear direction in the mid-0.7100s.
• AU Private CapEx surprised to the upside in Q4.
• Advanced US Q4 GDP figures next of relevance in the docket.

The Aussie Dollar exchanges gains with losses vs. the greenback in the second half of the week, prompting AUD/USD to stay sidelined around the mid-0.7100s.

AUD/USD now looks to US data

The pair climbed and tested session highs in the 0.7160 region during overnight trade, coincident with the 100-day SMA, just to ease some ground afterwards.

AUD gained initial traction following auspicious results from the publication of the Private Capital Expenditure for the October-December period, gaining 2.0% inter-quarter and revering the previous 0.5% decline.

On the not-so-bright side, Private Sector Credit expanded at a monthly 0.2% during January, missing expectations. These data put the housing sector in centre stage amidst slowing momentum in housing credit, while indicators keep signalling further cooling conditions in the next months.

Tomorrow in the docket, Markit’s manufacturing PMI is due along with the manufacturing gauge by AIG.

What to look for around AUD

The broad risk-appetite trends continue to drive the sentiment in the high-beta currencies and the commodity-bloc, always looking to headlines from the ongoing US-China trade negotiations. In the meantime, the recently confirmed neutral stance from the RBA plus the potential deterioration in domestic fundamentals has not only opened the door for further revisions lower in the economic outlook but it has also left a probable rate cut well on the table in the next months.

AUD/USD levels to watch

At the moment the pair is gaining 0.03% at 0.7141 and a breakout of 0.7198 (high Feb.27) followed by 0.7206 (high Feb.21) and finally 0.7258 (200-day SMA). On the flip side, the next support emerges at 0.7069 (low Feb.21) seconded by 0.7054 (low Feb.12) and finally 0.7021 (monthly low Oct.21 2018).