- US Dollar Index fails to hold above the 97 mark.
- Poor consumer confidence data from Australia hurts the AUD.
- February PPI figures and January durable goods orders from the U.S. are coming up next.
Despite the broad-based USD weakness on Wednesday, the AUD/USD pair is struggling to rise into the positive territory. As of writing, the pair was trading at 0.7061, losing 0.25% on a daily basis.
Earlier today, the Westpac Consumer Confidence released by the Faculty of Economics and Commerce Melbourne Institute dropped to -4.8% in March from 4.3% in February to weigh on the AUD. Furthermore, major Asian equity indexes suffered heavy losses to make it difficult for risk-sensitive currencies such as the AUD to find demand.
On the other hand, the greenback is having a tough time gaining traction following yesterday’s sell-off that was fueled by the disappointing inflation data and a more-than-1% fall in the 10-year Treasury bond yield. Ahead of the PPI data and durable goods orders releases later in the session, the US Dollar Index is down 0.1% on the day at 96.90.
Previewing today’s data from the U.S., “We see scope for an upside surprise and forecast a modest 0.1% expansion despite our estimate for a contraction in the ex-transportation measure. Separately, producer prices are expected to post their first month-on-month gain in two months, likely reflecting the recovery in energy prices in February.” TD Securities analysts said.
Key technical levels
AUD/USD
Trends:
Daily SMA20: 0.7105
Daily SMA50: 0.7134
Daily SMA100: 0.716
Daily SMA200: 0.7234
Levels:
Previous Daily High: 0.7092
Previous Daily Low: 0.7062
Previous Weekly High: 0.7118
Previous Weekly Low: 0.7002
Previous Monthly High: 0.7285
Previous Monthly Low: 0.7053
Daily Fibonacci 38.2%: 0.7081
Daily Fibonacci 61.8%: 0.7073
Daily Pivot Point S1: 0.7066
Daily Pivot Point S2: 0.7049
Daily Pivot Point S3: 0.7036
Daily Pivot Point R1: 0.7096
Daily Pivot Point R2: 0.7109
Daily Pivot Point R3: 0.7126