AUD/USD: near fresh 5-week highs

Valeria Bednarik FXStreet

AUD/USD Current price: 0.7793

Australian employment figures were a miss, but Aussie up anyway.
US weekly unemployment claims and Philly manufacturing up next.

The AUD/USD pair trades modestly higher on a daily basis, and after printing a fresh 5-week high of 0.7812 during Asia trading hours, shrugging off a disappointing Australian March employment report. According to official figures, the economy added just 4.9K new jobs well below the expected 21K amid a sharp loss n fulltime employment of 19.9K. The unemployment rate ticked down to 5.5% as expected, although the participation rate shrunk to 65.5/ from the previous and expected 65.7%. The American dollar is marginally higher in the current European session, but once again, the movement is quite limited, as distrust on the greenback persists. A factor backing the rally in the Aussie are for sure commodities, as base metals rallied on Wednesday, while oil prices stand at three-year highs.

Ahead of US weekly employment data and the Philadelphia manufacturing index for April, the pair is higher in range, with intraday technical readings offering a neutral-to-bullish stance, as despite the price is holding above a marginally bullish 20 SMA, technical indicators remain lifeless around their mid-lines. The main resistance is 0.7820, the 50% retracement of the December/January rally, and the bullish potential will be firmer on a break above it. To the downside, buyers have been surging at 0.7740, the 61.8% retracement of the mentioned rally.

Support levels: 0.7775 0.7740 0.7700

Resistance levels: 0.7820 0.7845 0.7880

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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