AUD/USD peeps above 0.79 on upbeat Aussie wage price index
|- AUD finds bids on better-than-expected Q4 wage growth data.
- Horrible Q4 construction work figure could play a spoilsport.
AUD/USD hit a session high of 0.7902 after the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported a better-than-expected fourth quarter wage growth numbers.
The Q4 wage price index came in at 0.6 percent quarter-on-quarter, beating the estimated rise of 0.5 percent and up from previous quarter's 0.5 percent. The annualized figure printed at 2.1 percent, bettering the estimate of 2 percent. However, the upbeat wage growth number has not had any positive impact on the Aussie 10-year yield, which continues to trade largely unchanged on the day at 2.89 percent.
Further, the big drop in the fourth quarter construction work done (-19.4 percent, expected -10.0 percent) is likely working against the AUD bulls. The spot was last seen trading at 0.7893.
AUD/USD Technical Levels
On the upside, a break above .7934 (previous day's high) would shift attention to 0.7989 (Feb. 16 high). A daily close above the same would indicate the rally from the Feb. 9 low of 0.7759 has resumed. In such a scenario, bears would find stuck on a wrong side of the trade, thus unwinding of AUD shorts could end up pushing the spot well above 0.80.
On the other hand, a sustained move below 0.7871 (upward sloping 50-day MA) could yield a sell-off to 0.7772 (100-day MA + 200-day MA) and 0.7744 (61.8% Fibonacci retracement of Dec-Jan rally).
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