AUD/USD steady in a range above 0.7150

The AUD/USD continues to trade in a tight range between 0.7180 and 0.7155, at the moment near the floor. The Aussie is modestly higher support mainly by Australian economic data and the lack of strength of the US dollar.

A quiet session in Wall Street is helping the AUD/USD consolidate around 0.7160. The US dollar is falling modestly offering support to the pair. During the American session, the DXY moved off lows, trimming losses.

Upbeat data in the US and Australia

In Australia jobs numbers came in above expectations. “Sure the unemployment rate ticked higher, but it was only up 0.1% to 7.5%, the market was at 7.8% even with the participation rate at 64.7% exceeding the market at 64.4%. The underutilization rate also dropped 0.4% to 18.7%, a sign that spare capacity while elevated continues to be slowly absorbed. The 114.7k jobs added in July were mostly in part time, +71.2k with full time +43.5k and hours worked in July increased 1.3%. Given this survey was conducted before the lockdown hit in Victoria, the August report will be more revealing”, explained TDS analysts.

In the US, jobless claims dropped more than expected. “In the first full week without the additional $600 weekly top-up from the federal government, fewer people filed first time claims for unemployment insurance continuing a trend decline over the past several weeks”, mentioned analysts at Wells Fargo. Initial jobless claims fell under 1 million for the first time in 21 weeks.

On Friday, critical Chinese economic data is due that could weight on AUD while in the US, retail sales and industrial production numbers will be released.

Technical levels