AUD/USD remains bid despite weaker-than-expected China Q1 GDP

China's first-quarter GDP drops more-than-expected.
Retail sales and industrial production for March showed contraction.
The Aussie dollar, a proxy for China, remains bid on renewed hopes for coronavirus treatment.

Omkar Godbole FXStreet Contributor

AUD/USD is unfazed by the weaker-than-expected China first-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) data released soon before press time.

The world's second-largest economy's growth rate declined by 6.8% year-on-year in the first three months of 2020 versus expectations for a 6.5% contraction, having expanded by 6% in the fourth quarter of 2019. The quarter-on-quarter growth rate came in at -9.8% versus expectations for -9.9%

Meanwhile, consumer spending, as represented by Retail Sales, tanked 15.8% year-on-year in March compared to expectations for a 10% decline. Industrial Production also contracted by 1.1% but bettered estimates of a 7.3% drop.

The dismal data has so far failed to move the needle in the Aussie dollar, leaving the AUD/USD pair largely unaffected near session highs at 0.6375.

The muted response isn't surprising as the coronavirus-induced economic downturn is generally accepted by now and priced in.

More importantly, risk assets and growth-linked currencies like the Aussie dollar are better bid on Friday, possibly on the back of STAT news report that Gilead Sciences' experimental drug remdesivir is seeing rapid recoveries in fever and respiratory symptoms associated with coronavirus.

Risk reset is also being supported by world leaders taking steps to gradually reopen their economies. AUD/USD could continue to gain altitude during the day ahead.

Technical levels

AUD/USD

Overview
Today last price	0.6375
Today Daily Change	0.0054
Today Daily Change %	0.85
Today daily open	0.6327

Trends
Daily SMA20	0.6142
Daily SMA50	0.6358
Daily SMA100	0.661
Daily SMA200	0.6717

Levels
Previous Daily High	0.6334
Previous Daily Low	0.6264
Previous Weekly High	0.6369
Previous Weekly Low	0.5991
Previous Monthly High	0.6686
Previous Monthly Low	0.5509
Daily Fibonacci 38.2%	0.6307
Daily Fibonacci 61.8%	0.6291
Daily Pivot Point S1	0.6283
Daily Pivot Point S2	0.6239
Daily Pivot Point S3	0.6213
Daily Pivot Point R1	0.6353
Daily Pivot Point R2	0.6378
Daily Pivot Point R3	0.6422

Author

Omkar Godbole

FXStreet Contributor

Omkar Godbole, editor and analyst, joined FXStreet after four years as a research analyst at several Indian brokerage companies.

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