AUD/USD Review: Holds in a familiar trading range, below 0.74 mark ahead of NFP

   “¢   Bulls fail to extract any support from today’s upbeat Aussie retail sales data.
   “¢   US-China trade tensions/persistent USD buying keep exerting downward pressure.
   “¢   The latest US jobs report might provide some impetus ahead of next week’s RBA.

The AUD/USD pair struggled to gain any positive traction and remained within striking distance of two-week lows touched in the past hour.

The pair did get a minor lift during the Asian session following a slightly better-than-expected Australian retail sales data, coming in to show a 0.4% m/m growth. The uptick, however, lacked any follow-through and was quickly sold into amid escalating US-China trade tension, which had been one of the key factors weighing on the China-proxy Australian Dollar.  

Adding to this, some renewed US Dollar buying interest since the early European session, coupled with the prevalent negative tone surrounding copper prices exerted some additional downward pressure on commodity-linked currencies – like the Aussie.

The pair dropped to mid-0.7300s, the lowest since July 20, albeit the selling pressure now seems to have abated, at least for the time being, as traders turned cautious and refrained from placing aggressive bets ahead of today’s key event risk – the release of highly anticipated US monthly jobs report.  

Technical Analysis

The pair remains confined within a broader trading range, held over the past seven weeks or so and the recent price action clearly seems to suggest that the near-term bearish pressure might still be far from over. However, it would be prudent to wait for a decisive break-through the trading band before positioning for any fresh leg of downfall in the near-term.