AUD/USD analysis: holding above 0.7100 ahead of Australian employment data

Valeria Bednarik FXStreet

AUD/USD Current price: 0.7115

Aussie under pressure as the dollar strengthened further with more rate hikes in the horizon.
Australian September employment data up next.

The AUD/USD pair reached a fresh 2-week high of 0.7159 but quickly retreated from the level to flirt with the 0.7110 support, undermined by falling EU indexes. The Aussie advanced despite disappointing data released at the beginning of the day, as the Australian Westpac–Melbourne Institute Leading Index is still pointing to growth slowdown, despite rising above trend, the index continues "to point to slowing momentum heading into year-end,” according to the official release. Australia will release during the upcoming Asian session the September monthly employment figures. The economy is expected to have added 15K new jobs in the month, while the unemployment rate is foreseen at 5.3%, despite an expected decline in the participation rate, to 65.6% from 65.7% in August. The country will also release the Westpac Leading Index for September, previously at 0.1%.

The pair heads into the Asian session trading right around the 38.2% retracement of the latest daily slide and near the mentioned daily low of 0.7110, while the 61.8% retracement of the same declines comes a couple of pips above the mentioned daily high, indicating that the pair may well enter in a bearish spiral after being rejected from such resistance. In the 4 hours chart, the pair broke below its 20 SMA, while technical indicators enter bearish territory, also indicating additional slides ahead, with a break below 0.7085 now opening doors for a retest of the year low.

Support levels: 0.7110 0.7085 0.7040

Resistance levels: 0.7160 0.7195 0.7220

View Live Chart for the AUD/USD

Author

Valeria Bednarik

FXStreet

Valeria Bednarik was born and lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Her passion for math and numbers pushed her into studying economics in her younger years.

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