AUD/USD trades with modest gains, 0.7600 mark remains in sight

The AUD/USD pair edged higher heading into the European session and was last seen hovering near the top end of its intraday trading range, around the 0.7580 region.

Following the previous day's pullback from the vicinity of the 0.7600 mark, a combination of factors assisted the AUD/USD pair to gain some positive traction for the fourth straight session on Thursday. The underlying bullish sentiment in the financial markets was seen as a key factor lending support to the perceived riskier aussie. Apart from this, a subdued US dollar demand extended some additional support to the major.

The USD, so far, has struggled to capitalize to build on last week's post-FOMC strong move up amid mixed signals on the US inflation. The Fed Chair Jerome Powell said on Tuesday that inflation is rising due to pent-up demand and supply bottlenecks and that the price pressures should ease on their own. Separately, two Fed officials said on Wednesday that the high inflation in the US would last longer than expected.

Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic said on Wednesday that inflation will remain well above the Fed's 2% target and that he now expects interest rates need to rise in late 2022. Adding to this, Fed Governor Michelle Bowman indicated that the recovery in the labour market and spending on goods and services have contributed to the upward pressure on consumer prices. Both, however, agreed that the price increase will prove temporary.

That said, a modest uptick in the US Treasury bond yields acted as a tailwind for the greenback. This, in turn, could hold traders from placing any aggressive bets and keep a lid on any runaway rally for the AUD/USD pair. Market participants now look forward to a slew of important US macro data for some impetus later during the early North American session.

The US economic docket highlights the release of the final Q1 GDP print, Durable Goods Orders, the usual Initial Weekly Jobless Claims and Goods Trade Balance figures for May. This, along with the US bond yields and the broader market risk sentiment, might produce some trading opportunities around the AUD/USD pair.

Technical levels to watch