AUD/USD remains depressed below 0.6800 handle, focus shifts to US macro data

The AUD/USD pair came under some renewed selling pressure on Wednesday and remained well within the striking distance of over one-month lows set earlier this week.

The pair failed to capitalize on the previous session's attempted recovery move, supported by positive trade rhetoric, and edged lower during the Asian session on Wednesday despite better-than-expected Aussie data.

Weighed down by renewed RBA easing speculations

According to the trend estimates, Australia's total Construction Work Done fell 0.4% during the third quarter of 2019 as against a drop of 1.0% expected and the previous quarter's upwardly revised reading of -2.8%.

However, the fact that the gauge marked the fifth straight quarterly decline reinforced prospects for a further monetary policy easing by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and exerted some fresh downward pressure.

This comes on the back of the recent trade news fatigue and turned out to be one of the key factors that weighed on the China-proxy Australian dollar despite improving global risk sentiment/the prevalent risk-on mood.

In the latest trade-related developments, the US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that we are in the final throes of a very important deal with China that would defuse a 16-month trade war.

Meanwhile, investors seemed hesitant to place any aggressive directional bets, rather preferred to wait on the sideline before the actual deal is signed, which might eventually lead a subdued/range-bound price action.

Moving ahead, Wednesday's US economic docket – highlighting the release of Durable Goods Orders and the second estimate of Q3 GDP growth figures – might influence the US dollar price dynamics and provide a fresh impetus.

Technical levels to watch