AUDUSD Breaks Down; US ISM Manufacturing PMI Next

Key Highlights

• Australian dollar suffered losses recently against the US dollar and cleared an important support area.

• Australian AIG performance of the Mfg. Index was released by the Australian Industry Group, which registered a decline from 49 to 45.4.

• Australian Company Gross Operating Profits released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics declined by 0.2% in the fourth quarter of 2014, compared to the expectation of a rise by 0.3%.

• AUDUSD has a major support around 0.7720 and resistance ahead at 0.7800.

US ISM Manufacturing PMI

Today during the NY session, the US Institute for Supply Management (ISM) Manufacturing Index representing business conditions in the US manufacturing sector will be released. The forecast is slated for a minor rise in February 2015, compared to the preceding month. Let us see how the outcome unfolds and affects the US dollar moving ahead. There are some economic releases lined up during the London session as well. The Euro zone Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) will released by the Markit Economics, which is expected to rise from 51 to 51.1.

Technical Analysis

The AUDUSD pair is attempting to break an important bullish trend line on the daily chart, and if the pair settles below the same then more losses are feasible in the short term. Recently, the pair failed to clear the 38.2% fib retracement level of the last leg from the 0.8294 high to 0.7626 low. So, it can be considered as a competition of the correction. 

On the upside, initial resistance is around the 0.7800, which is a pivot area for the AUDUSD pair. Moreover, the 0.7840-50 area also represents a major barrier for the pair.