AUD/USD recovers from a sudden slump after upbeat China PMI, still below 0.6200

Following its flash crash drop from 0.6190 to 0.6080, AUD/USD bounces back to 0.6165 amid the Asian session on Tuesday. While a fat finger is most likely behind the latest flash crash, recovery in China’s official PMI data helped the pair to reimburse the losses.

China’s official Manufacturing and Non-Manufacturing PMIs for March surprised markets with above 50.00 readings. In doing so, the headline manufacturing gauge crossed 45 forecast and 35.7 prior to flash 52.00 while the Non-Manufacturing PMI rose to 52.3 compared to 37.8 expected and 29.6 previous readouts.

Earlier during the day, February month data from Australia suggested Private Sector Credit surged past 0.2% MoM forecast to 0.4% whereas HIA New Home Sales crossed -1.9% forecast and 5.7% prior with 6.2%. Before that, the weekly Consumer Confidence figures refreshed the record low while declining to 65.3 from 72.2 prior.

Also recently driving the Aussie prices could be comments from the adviser of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC). The diplomat stated that setting GDP target may force China to resort to flood-like stimulus, GDP growth between 4 to 5% will be difficult to achieve for China.

Having witnessed a slew of Aussie and China data, markets may seek fresh direction from coronavirus headlines.

Technical analysis

Unless providing a daily closing beyond 0.6200 mark, comprising 21-day SMA odds favoring the pair’s run-up to March 09 low near 0.6310 remains weak. Alternatively, 0.6080, 0.6000 round-figure and 10-day SMA near 0.5960 could entertain sellers during the pullback.