AUD/USD struggles to regain 0.80 on US inflation surprise

Currently, AUD/USD is trading in the red at 0.7992 after facing rejection at 0.8006 earlier today. The North Korea news did rock the US dollar during the overnight trade,  however, the US inflation surprise ensured the 0.80 handle becomes a tough nut to crack.

Fxstreet Chief Analyst Valeria Bednarik explains the price action in the AUD/USD - "The Aussie got a boost from better-than-expected Australian employment data, as the economy added 54,200 new jobs in August, more than doubling the 20,000 expected. The unemployment rate remained steady at 5.6%, despite the participation rate surged to 65.3% from previous 65.1%. Denting AUD's strength where Chinese macroeconomic figures, as in August,  retail sales were up by 10.1%, below previous 10.4%, while industrial production advanced by 6.0%, against previous 6.4%.'

The currency pair clocked a high of 0.8017 yesterday before ending the day at 0.80. The upside was capped by the US inflation numbers. The consumer price index for August increased by 0.4% versus the 0.3% expected and 0.1% in the previous period. Alongside the core consumer price index also grew by 0.2%, which was in line with expectations and twice better than in July.

Looking ahead, the currency pair is likely to be influenced by the US retail sales release at 12:30 GMT.

AUD/USD Technical Outlook

OctaFX team writes-

"The AUD/USD demonstrates a confident descending impulse after some consolidation near the 0.8000 level. The RSI on the 15-minute chart approached the oversold zone, that together with the price coming close to the angled support line, may result in an upward rebound soon with potential growth to 0.8000. The next target within the local descending trend will be at 0.7870."