AUD/USD retreats from multi-week tops above 0.72 as impact of positive China data fades away
|- Retail sales in China rose more than expected in March.
- US Dollar Index fails to hold above 97.
- Next significant macro event: Labour market data from Australia.
Boosted by the strong macroeconomic data releases from China today, the AUD/USD pair advanced to its highest level since late February at 0.7205 before starting to consolidate its gains. As of writing, the pair was trading at 0.7190, adding 0.23% on a daily basis.
The data published by China's National Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday revealed that retail sales increased by 8.7% on a yearly basis in March to beat the analysts' estimate of 8.4% and industrial production expanded by 8.5% to beat the market expectation of 5.9% by a wide margin. Finally, the first-quarter GDP growth came in at 6.4% annually to match the previous reading.
In the second half of the day, the trade balance data from the U.S. and the Fed's Beige Book will be looked upon for fresh impetus. The US Dollar Index, which slumped to a daily low of 96.82 earlier today, is now inching closer to the 97 handle, forcing the pair to pull away from its highs.
The next significant catalyst for the AUD will be the labour market report that will be released at 01:30 GMT on Thursday. Markets expect the employment change to come in at 12K in March following February's 4.6K reading and see the unemployment rate ticking up to 5%.
Technical levels to consider
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