AUD/USD clings to gains near one-week tops, US macro data in focus

The AUD/USD pair continued gaining some positive traction for the fourth consecutive session and jumped to over one-week high during Asian session on Friday. 

The pair extended its recent recovery move from 2-1/2 month lows, touched on Friday, and showed resilience to cautious RBA Financial Stability Review report, and mixed Chinese trade data. 

The RBA warned that higher interest rates could hurt heavily-indebted households, while China's trade balance for Sept. showed a surplus of 193.00 bn Yuan as against 266.05 bn expected. The headline Chinese numbers were largely negated by a big beat on imports figures and supported the China-proxy Australian Dollar. 

Meanwhile, a subdued US Dollar price action was also seen lending support, albeit a modest pickup in the US Treasury bond yields capped further up-move for higher-yielding currencies - like the Aussie.

Investors focus on Friday would remain glued to the key US macro data, especially the latest consumer inflation figures. Today's headline CPI print would drive expectations for gradual Fed monetary policy tightening cycle, beyond December meeting, and eventually provide fresh directional impetus.

   •  US CPI inflation and retail sales amongst market movers today – Danske Bank

Technical levels to watch

Immediate resistance is pegged near 0.7860 level, above which the pair is likely to dart towards the 0.7900 handle en-route 50-day SMA hurdle near the 0.7915 region.

On the flip side, any pull-back below 0.7820 level now seems to find support at 100-day SMA, currently near the 0.7800 handle, which if broken could drag the pair back towards 0.7750 strong horizontal support.