AUD/USD erases upbeat retails sales-led tepid recovery gains

The AUD/USD pair's recovery momentum from sub-0.7600 level stalled at 0.7645 level and the pair has now retraced from session high to currently trade absolutely flat around 0.7615 region. 

Stronger-than-expected release of Australian monthly retails sales data helped the pair to recover from 50-day SMA immediate support region. The recovery, however, was short-lived, despite of mixed US Dollar performance, as investors seemed to have turned cautious on talks of ECB trimming its bond-purchase program before the scheduled conclusion in March 2017.  

Meanwhile, increasing prospects of further interest-rate hike action by the Federal Reserve, possibly by the end of this year, is further denting demand for higher-yielding currencies - like Aussie, and restricting any swift recovery for the pair. 

Going forward, a slew of US macroeconomic releases, later during NY trading session, would be looked upon to grab short-term trading opportunities ahead of the Friday's NFP release. Today's US economic docket features the release of ADP report on US private sector employment, trade balance data, ISM non-manufacturing and factory orders.

Technical levels to watch

Immediate downside support is pegged at 50-day SMA near 0.7600 region, which if broken decisively is likely to accelerate the slide towards 0.7580-75 support area ahead of its next major support near 0.7510 region marking 100-day SMA.

On the flip side, the pair now needs to clear session high resistance near 0.7640-45 region in order to increase the prospects of further recovery. Above session high, the pair is likely to aim towards 0.7670-75 resistance, which if cleared should boost the pair towards weekly high resistance near 0.7690 area.