- AUD/USD wavers in a choppy range between 0.7765 and 0.7775 off-late.
- Australia’s preliminary Retail Sales for January eased below forecast of 2.0% but recovered from -4.1% prior.
- Market sentiment remains sluggish amid no major progress on US stimulus talks, fears of coivd variants.
- US PMIs, chatters over virus, vaccine and US covid relief package will be the key.
AUD/USD pays a little heed to the Australian Retail Sales figures while taking rounds to 0.7765-70 during the Asian session on Friday. In doing so, the quote remains an immediate range while respective the mixed signals from the US dollar and the risk table.
Australia’s preliminary readings for January Retail Sales grew 0.6% MoM versus 2.0% forecast and -4.1% prior.
Read: Aussie pre’ Retail Sales: +0.6% MoM vs +2.0% exp, AUD steady
Earlier in the day, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia published PMI figures for February but couldn’t entertain the markets with the downbeat outcomes.
Risk-tone dwindles as traders seem tired of waiting for the US COVID-19 stimulus headlines. Also weighing on the sentiment could be the fears that the virus variants are resistant to the top-tier vaccines.
On Thursday, the market sentiment dropped amid fears of lesser funds amid rising rates. The cautious moves also gained support from the downbeat US data to drag the greenback downwards.
It should, however, be noted that the recent corrective pullback in the US 10-year Treasury yields and the US dollar index (DXY) seemed to have weighed on the risk catalysts off-late. Against this backdrop, S&P 500 Futures print mild losses whereas the Asia-Pacific shares also remain depressed by press time.
Looking forward, updates from China can offer immediate direction while news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine and the US covid relief package can offer extra directions to the moves ahead of American activity numbers, up for publishing later Friday.
Technical analysis
The pair’s ability to stay above 10-day SMA on a daily closing keeps it directed towards breaking the double tops around 0.7805, which in turn will eye to refresh the monthly top beyond the present level around 0.7820. Meanwhile, a downside break of 0.7750, comprising 10-day SMA, needs to drop below an ascending trend line from November 2020, at 0.7669 now, to recall the bears.
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