AUD/USD Forecast: Australian data could provide a nice boost

Valeria Bednarik FXStreet

AUD/USD Current Price: 0.7227

Australia will publish fresh employment and inflation figures on Thursday.
Spot gold soared to its highest since November, underpinning the aussie.
AUD/USD recovered the 0.7200 threshold, the next directional move depends on data.

The AUD/USD pair turned positive for the first time this week, trading at around 0.7230 heading into the Asian opening. The advance gained momentum early in the US session, as stocks opened in the green, following the lead of its European counterparts. Wall Street lost ground and turned red, but the aussie managed to retain gains vs the greenback amid receding demand for the latter and soaring gold prices. The bright metal jumped to $1,841 a troy ounce, its highest since last November.

The Australian macroeconomic calendar will kick-start the week late, as the country will publish on Thursday, January Consumer Inflation Expectations, previously at 4.8%, and the December employment report. The country is expected to have added 30K new job positions, while the Unemployment Rate is foreseen declining to 4.5% from 4.6%. The Participation Rate is expected at 66.2% from 66.1% previously. It is worth paying extra attention to how many full-time positions the country managed to add in the month.

AUD/USD short-term technical outlook

The AUD/USD trades near a daily high of 0.7237, yet the daily chart indicates that further gains are not to be taken for granted. The pair is incapable of recovering above a mildly bullish 20 SMA, while the longer moving averages maintain their bearish slopes well above the current level. In the meantime, technical indicators have turned marginally higher but remain within neutral levels without strength enough to confirm a bullish extension.

In the near term, and according to the 4-hour chart, the pair is neutral-to-bullish. Technical indicators are consolidating right above their midlines, while the pair seems comfortable above directionless moving averages. The pair could get a boost from Australian data, with a critical resistance level at 0.7275, the 50% retracement of the 0.7555/0.6992 slide.

Support levels: 0.7200 0.7170 0.7125

Resistance levels: 0.7275 0.7315 0.7350

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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