AUD/USD May 18- Aussie Up Against US Dollar Following

The Aussie traded higher Tuesday against the US Dollar following an unexpected drop in US housing starts.  The Aussie was trading at 1.0602, up 0.45% at the time of this writing.

Here’s a quick update on technicals, fundamentals and community trends.

 

AUD/USD Technicals

• Previous sessions: The Aussie traded higher after the opening and then gradually falling throughout the late morning and early afternoon session, diving sharply to its low of 1.0506 late in the afternoon, and then rallying sharply to its current level.
• Current range: 1.0506 – 1.0716
• Further levels: Below: 1.0530, 1.0542, 1.0563 Above: 1.0596, 1.0608, 1.0629
• AUD / USD likely to find support at 1.0577, and resistance at a high of 1.0876.

AUD/USD Fundamentals

• 01:30   Australia         Westpac Consumer Sentiment         Prev. 1.2%    
• 02:30   Australia         Wage Price Index q/q       1.2% Prev. 1.0%
• 15:30   US         Crude Oil Inventories       1.4M Prev. 3.8M    
• 18:30   US         FOMC Member Fisher Speaks            
• 19:00   US         FOMC Meeting Minutes

* All times are GMT.

For the major events due later in the week, see the  AUD/USD forecast.

AUD/USD Sentiment

• The US released data Tuesday on new housing starts, reporting an unexpected decline in April to 0.52M. The market was expecting a rise to 0.57M.
• The RBA stated that it may require higher interest rates to curb rising consumer prices.
• A separate US report stated that industrial production was unexpectedly flat in April.

Currensee Community: 51% are short, 49% are long. 246 open positions in real accounts trading this pair at the moment. A slight majority of the community is expecting lower levels of the pair ahead.