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AUD/USD surges past 0.7600 mark for the first time since June 2018

  • A combination of factors provided a strong boost to the AUD/USD on Thursday.
  • The prevalent risk-on mood continued weighing heavily on the safe-haven USD.
  • Upbeat Australian employment details further contributed to the strong move up.

The USD selling bias picked up pace during the early European session and pushed the AUD/USD pair further beyond the 0.7600 mark for the first time since June 2018.

The pair gained some strong follow-through traction for the third consecutive session on Thursday and has now rallied around 120 pips from weekly lows, around the key 0.7500 psychological mark. The upbeat market mood continued weighing on the safe-haven US dollar, which, in turn, was seen as a key factor driving flows towards the perceived riskier aussie.

The global risk sentiment remained well supported by the recent optimism over the rollout of vaccines for the highly contagious coronavirus disease and hopes for a last-minute Brexit deal. Apart from this, prospects for additional US fiscal stimulus and dovish FOMC statement on Wednesday further aggravated the bearish pressure surrounding the greenback.

On the other hand, the Australian dollar got an additional boost from an unexpected fall in the domestic unemployment rate to 6.8% in November from 7.0% previous. Adding to this, the number of people employed jumped more-than-expected, by 90K during the reported month and forced investors to scale back expectations for an immediate easing by the RBA.

Meanwhile, the latest leg of a sudden spike over the past hour or so could further be attributed to some technical buying on a sustained move beyond the 0.7600 round-figure mark. Hence, it remains to be seen if the ongoing momentum marks a fresh bullish breakout or turns out to be a stop run amid slightly overbought conditions on short-term charts.

Technical levels to watch

 

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