AUD/USD challenges former resistance-turned-support after dismal Aussie housing data

AUD/USD is on the defensive, having printed session lows below the former resistance-turned-support of 0.7232 (Jan. 11 high) a few minutes ago.
Australian building approvals fell sharply for a second consecutive month in December, bolstering the already growing fears about the economy.

Omkar Godbole FXStreet Contributor

The Aussie dollar fell in the red after the Australia Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said building approvals had dived more than expected in December.

Total approvals fell by 8.4% to 13,995 after seasonal adjustments, missing the estimated 1.8 percent rise by a big margin. The previous month's print has been revised lower to -9.8 percent from the initially reported -9.1 percent.

In annualized terms, approvals tanked 22.5 percent, following a 32.8 percent slide in November.

The deterioration in housing market condition is likely associated with tighter lending standards and could put pressure on the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to adopt a dovish stance.

No wonder, AUD/USD has fallen back to the former resistance-turned-support of 0.7232. As of writing, it is trading at 0.7238, having printed a session low of 0.7228 a few minutes ago. A daily close below 0.7232 would neutralize the immediate bullish view put forward by last Wednesday's close at 0.7247.

AUD/USD Technical Levels

AUD/USD

Overview:
    Today Last Price: 0.724
    Today Daily change: -0.0011 pips
    Today Daily change %: -0.15%
    Today Daily Open: 0.7251
Trends:
    Daily SMA20: 0.7179
    Daily SMA50: 0.7169
    Daily SMA100: 0.7173
    Daily SMA200: 0.7292
Levels:
    Previous Daily High: 0.7285
    Previous Daily Low: 0.7236
    Previous Weekly High: 0.7296
    Previous Weekly Low: 0.7138
    Previous Monthly High: 0.7296
    Previous Monthly Low: 0.6684
    Daily Fibonacci 38.2%: 0.7255
    Daily Fibonacci 61.8%: 0.7266
    Daily Pivot Point S1: 0.723
    Daily Pivot Point S2: 0.7208
    Daily Pivot Point S3: 0.7181
    Daily Pivot Point R1: 0.7279
    Daily Pivot Point R2: 0.7306
    Daily Pivot Point R3: 0.7328

Author

Omkar Godbole

FXStreet Contributor

Omkar Godbole, editor and analyst, joined FXStreet after four years as a research analyst at several Indian brokerage companies.

EUR/USD remains bid, focus stays on 1.1900

EUR/USD has broken its two-day run of losses and is ticking modestly higher on Thursday, hovering around the 1.1880 area as the US Dollar struggles to find clear direction. Weekly Initial Jobless Claims rose more than expected, taking a bit of shine off the Greenback, but markets are largely in wait-and-see mode ahead of Friday’s US CPI release.

GBP/USD sticks to the bid bias, still below 1.3700

GBP/USD is trading with decent gains around 1.3650 on Thursday. Indeed, Cable is attempting to shake off the weakness seen earlier in the week amid another choppy session for the Greenback, while a run of disappointing UK data has so far failed to derail the pair’s tentative recovery.

Gold recedes slightly, trades below $5,100

Gold remains stuck in choppy trade on Thursday, deflating marginally just below the $5,100 mark per troy ounce as the US Dollar drifts without a clear trend. Softer US Treasury yields across the curve are offering some support, but with markets treading carefully ahead of Friday’s US CPI release, conviction remains limited and price action continues to look hesitant.