AUD/USD stays calm near mid-0.7300s, eyes on US consumer confidence data

AUD/USD is fluctuating in a narrow range on Friday.
US Dollar Index stays in a consolidation phase below 93.00.
New Home Sales in Australia declined sharply in July.

Eren Sengezer FXStreet

Following a two-day rebound, the AUD/USD pair turned south and erased its weekly gains. On Friday, the pair is moving up and down in an extremely tight range amid a lack of fundamental drivers and high-tier data releases. As of writing, AUD/USD was posting small daily gains at 0.7342.

Earlier in the day, the data from Australia revealed that the HIA New Home Sales declined by 20.5% on a monthly basis in July following June's increase of 14.8%. This reading seems to be making it difficult for the AUD to find demand ahead of the weekend. Meanwhile, the coronavirus-related lockdown in Canberra is putting additional weight on the currency.

On the other hand, the US Dollar Index (DXY) continues to move sideways below 93.00 on Friday, not allowing AUD/USD to make a decisive move in either direction.

Later in the day, the University of Michigan's preliminary August Consumer Sentiment Index, which is expected to remain unchanged at 81.2, will be featured in the US economic docket.

AUD/USD near-term outlook

OCBC analysts think that AUD/USD could suffer heavy losses in the near term. “The surprise lockdown in Canberra adds a near-term negative for the AUD/USD," analysts noted. “The recent range lows at 0.7290 are in focus, and any breach of that support opens the path towards 0.7200 and 0.7000 in a multi-week horizon.”

Technical levels to watch for

AUD/USD

Overview
Today last price	0.7342
Today Daily Change	0.0007
Today Daily Change %	0.10
Today daily open	0.7335

Trends
Daily SMA20	0.7367
Daily SMA50	0.7489
Daily SMA100	0.7605
Daily SMA200	0.7611

Levels
Previous Daily High	0.7378
Previous Daily Low	0.7331
Previous Weekly High	0.7427
Previous Weekly Low	0.7328
Previous Monthly High	0.7599
Previous Monthly Low	0.7288
Daily Fibonacci 38.2%	0.7349
Daily Fibonacci 61.8%	0.736
Daily Pivot Point S1	0.7318
Daily Pivot Point S2	0.7301
Daily Pivot Point S3	0.7271
Daily Pivot Point R1	0.7365
Daily Pivot Point R2	0.7395
Daily Pivot Point R3	0.7412

Author

Eren Sengezer

FXStreet

As an economist at heart, Eren Sengezer specializes in the assessment of the short-term and long-term impacts of macroeconomic data, central bank policies and political developments on financial assets.

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