AUD/USD eyes Wednesday’s high of 0.6945 amid USD weakness, NFP in focus

AUD/USD bulls look to re-take 0.6950 once again.
Australian PM Morrison’s comments on HK shrugged-off?
Eyes on risk trends ahead of the US payrolls data.

Dhwani Mehta FXStreet

AUD/USD is breaking its Asian consolidation to the upside in the early European dealings, as the US dollar extends Wednesday’s decline across its main competitors amid persistent strength in the global stocks.

Encouraging US Manufacturing data released in the US last session combined with coronavirus vaccine hopes bolstered the ongoing Wall Street rally and dulled the US dollar’s safe-haven appeal. The US dollar index drops 0.18% to a fresh six-day low of 97.02, at the press time.

The further advance in the S&P 500 futures appears to fuel the latest move higher in the aussie. The spot hit a daily low of 0.6905 after Australian Prime Minister (PM) Scott Morrison’s comments over the Hong Kong issue briefly dragged the local currency lower.

PM Morrison confirmed that his country is prepared to 'step up and support' Hong Kong citizens, which is likely to add to the simmering tensions between Australia and China over the last few months.

Further, stricter measures enforced in Victoria, amid surging virus cases in the no.2 populous state of Australia, and dismal trade figures kept the bulls on the defensive.

The focus now shifts towards the key US Non-Farm Payrolls (NFP) data due later today at 1230 GMT for fresh direction on the greenback and, in turn, on the major. In the meantime, the sentiment on the European stocks will influence the spot.

AUD/USD technical levels

Having defended 0.6900, the AUD/USD buyers look to take out Wednesday high of 0.6945 en route the 0.7000 mark. To the downside, 0.6895 (A$1.8 billion option expiries) will offer the initial support, below which the psychological level of 0.6850 could be tested.

AUD/USD additional levels

AUD/USD

Overview
Today last price	0.6928
Today Daily Change	0.0013
Today Daily Change %	0.19
Today daily open	0.6915

Trends
Daily SMA20	0.6906
Daily SMA50	0.6688
Daily SMA100	0.6508
Daily SMA200	0.6669

Levels
Previous Daily High	0.6944
Previous Daily Low	0.6876
Previous Weekly High	0.6975
Previous Weekly Low	0.6811
Previous Monthly High	0.7065
Previous Monthly Low	0.6648
Daily Fibonacci 38.2%	0.6918
Daily Fibonacci 61.8%	0.6902
Daily Pivot Point S1	0.688
Daily Pivot Point S2	0.6844
Daily Pivot Point S3	0.6812
Daily Pivot Point R1	0.6947
Daily Pivot Point R2	0.6979
Daily Pivot Point R3	0.7015

Author

Dhwani Mehta

FXStreet

Residing in Mumbai (India), Dhwani is a Senior Analyst and Manager of the Asian session at FXStreet. She has over 10 years of experience in analyzing and covering the global financial markets, with specialization in Forex and commodities markets.

EUR/USD climbs to daily highs near 1.1820

EUR/USD now picks up pace and advances to the area of daily peaks north of the 1.1800 barrier at the end of the week. The pair’s decent move higher comes against the backdrop of a generalised lack of direction in the FX galaxy and the mild offered stance in the US Dollar.

GBP/USD trims losses, retests 1.3460

After briefly challenging its key 200-day SMA near 1.3440, GBP/USD now manages to regain some balance and revisit the 1.3460 zone on Friday. Cable’s pullback comes as the selling pressure on the Greenback gathers traction, reigniting some recovery in the risk-linked space.

Gold flirts with four-week highs past $5,200

Gold extends its rebound, climbing for a third consecutive session and pushing back above the $5,200 mark per troy ounce on Friday. The move higher continues to draw support from lingering geopolitical tensions and the ongoing uncertainty surrounding US trade policy, both of which are keeping safe-haven demand firmly in play.

Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple consolidate with short-term cautious bullish bias

Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple are consolidating near key technical areas on Friday, showing mild signs of stabilization after recent volatility. BTC holds above $67,000 despite mild losses so far this week, while ETH hovers around $2,000 after a rejection near its upper consolidation boundary.

Breaking: US and Israel attack Iran, risk aversion to sweep global markets

Early Saturday, United States (US) President Donald Trump announced that the US had begun “major combat operations” in Iran, following Israel’s pre-emptive missile attacks against Tehran.

Starknet unveils strkBTC, shielded Bitcoin transactions on Ethereum Layer 2

Starknet, the Ethereum Layer 2 network developed by StarkWare, today announced strkBTC, a wrapped Bitcoin asset that introduces optional shielding while preserving full DeFi composability.