AUD/USD off lows, still in red near YTD lows

   •  Persistent USD buying keeps exerting downward pressure.
   •  Aussie PPI/weaker US bond yields fail to provide any respite.
   •  US GDP print eyed for fresh impetus ahead of Monday’s Chinese PMI.

The AUD/USD pair continued losing ground through the early European session on Friday and dropped to fresh YTD lows in the past hour.

The pair extended last week's rejection slide from the very important 200-day SMA, levels beyond the 0.7800 handle, and traded with a bearish bias for the seventh consecutive session. Traders shrugged off today's slightly better-than-expected Australian Q1 PPI print, with the USD price dynamics acting as an exclusive driver of the pair's downfall to its lowest level since December 12.

Persistent USD buying interest, with the key US Dollar Index rising to 3-1/2 month tops, above mid-91.00s, kept exerting downward pressure on the major. Even a modest retracement in the US Treasury bond yields did little to revive demand for higher-yielding currencies - like the Aussie, albeit helped limit further losses at least for the time being.

Investors now look forward to the advance US Q1 GDP growth figures for some fresh impetus ahead of Monday's official Chinese PMI prints, which could have a lasting effect on the China-proxy Australian Dollar.

Technical levels to watch

Any subsequent weakness is likely to find support near the key 0.75 psychological mark, which if broken should pave way for an extension of the pair’s near-term downward trajectory. On the upside, any recovery attempts beyond the 0.7550-60 region might continue to confront fresh supply near the 0.7590-0.7600 area, above which a bout of short-covering should lift the pair towards 0.7640 resistance.