AUD/USD eases from intraday top below 0.7800 on RBA’s Lowe, eyes China data

AUD/USD steps back from an intraday high of 0.7763 to 0.7758 after RBA Governor Philip Lowe’s speech during the early Monday’s Asian session. Although RBA’s Lowe tried to sell the Aussie government’s policies, his comments over inflation and employment seem to have weighed on the quote off-late. Also testing the pair buyers could be the mixed signals from the risk catalysts as well as cautious mood ahead of China data.

While delivering opening remarks to the Melbourne Business Analytics Conference, RBA’s Lowe signaled that the central bank will maintain the support to battle the pandemic until they achieve goals for full employment and inflation. The RBA Boss also said, “The result has been a quicker and stronger economic recovery than was expected. This, however, does not hide the fact that we still have a long way to go.”

Elsewhere, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen reiterated the readiness to tame bond bears if needed while accepting the short-term upside in rates. However, the diplomat rejected reflation fears. On the other hand, US President Joe Biden praised last week’s virtual meet between the US, Japan, India and Australia.

It should be noted that the Netherlands’ suspension of AstraZeneca vaccine usage until March 29 battles the drugmaker's rejection of any such finding in the latest tests to challenge the risks.

Against this backdrop, S&P 500 Futures print 0.20% intraday gains while stocks in Asia-Pacific look towards China’s Retail Sales and Industrial Production for fresh clues.

While upbeat expectations from Chinese figures can help the AUD/USD prices, US dollar strength and US Treasury yields may test the bulls ahead of this week’s key FOMC meeting.

Technical analysis

January’s top and monthly high, respectively around 0.7820 and 0.7835, test immediate upside when a clear break above the two-week-old resistance line, now support, favors AUD/USD bulls to battle 21-day SMA, at 0.7785 now.