AUD/USD retreats modestly, clings to strong daily gains around 0.7770

• AUD/USD touched its highest level in a month on Monday.
• USD continues to have a tough time attracting investors.
• Wall Street’s main indexes look to open in the negative territory.

The AUD/USD pair preserved its bullish momentum at the start of the week and touched its highest level in a month at 0.7785 before going into a consolidation phase. As of writing, the pair was up 0.45% at 0.7770.

Eyes on US stocks

The USD’s market valuation remains the primary driver of AUD/USD’s movements. The US Dollar Index (DXY), which tracks the greenback’s performance against a basket of six major currencies, lost 0.6% last week pressured by the sharp decline witnessed in the US Treasury bond yields. With the benchmark 10-year US T-bond yield struggling to stage a meaningful rebound, the DXY extended its slide and was last seen losing 0.55% at 91.10.

Although there won’t be any significant macroeconomic data releases from the US, investors will keep a close eye on the performance of Wall Street’s main indexes. After registering a record-high weekly close on Friday, the S&P 500 Index remains on track to open in the negative territory with the futures losing nearly 0.3% ahead of the opening bell.

A negative shift in market sentiment could help the USD limit its losses in the second half of the day.

In the early trading hours of the Asian session on Tuesday, the Reserve Bankı of Australia (RBA) will release the minutes of its April meeting, at which it decided to leave its policy rate unchanged at 0.1% as expected.

Technical levels to watch for