AUD/USD: Sellers continue to lurk near 0.7170, NAB data still weighs

• NAB business conditions figure collapses in December, knocks off the Aussie dollar.
• Subdued US dollar, RBA’s Harper aid the recovery, but risk-off limits the upside.
• The sentiment to be driven by US-China trade headlines ahead of Australian Q4 CPI report.

The AUD/USD pair bounced-off lows near 0.7140 region and attempted a tepid recovery last hours, only to find stiff resistance near the 0.7170 level, as markets trade cautiously amid looming US-China trade talks and concerns over the global economic outlook.

Moreover, the terrible NAB business condition data out of Australia released earlier today also continues to keep any recovery attempts capped. The Australian business conditions for December slumped 9 points to 2, under the long term average of 6. Meanwhile, the business confidence steadied at 3, doing little to help the AUD bulls.

Meanwhile, broad-based US dollar softness on expectations of a pause in the Fed’s policy tightening combined with a dovish FOMC decision on Wednesday cushion the downside in the Aussie. The USD index meanders near nine-day lows of 95.64 amid mixed Treasury yields heading into the two-day Fed monetary policy meeting commencing this Tuesday.  Also, slightly hawkish comments from the RBA’s Harper offer some support to the OZ currency.

In the meantime, the focus remains on the US consumer confidence data and broader markets sentiment for near-term trading opportunities while the Australian Q4 CPI report could offer a fresh direction on the prices.

AUD/USD Technical Levels