AUD/USD off lows, defends 0.75 handle for the time being

The AUD/USD pair remained under some selling pressure, albeit has managed to bounce-off from the vicinity of key 0.75 psychological mark and is currently trading around 0.7520 region.

The pair on Wednesday was being weighed down by disappointing release of Australian quarterly CPI print, coming-in at 0.5% q-o-q as compared to 0.6% expected. Meanwhile, the yearly rate moved above 2% for the first time since Q2 of 2014 and helped limit losses. 

Also collaborating to the tepid reaction was the trimmed mean CPI, RBA's core inflation figure, which printed better-than-expected reading of 1.9% y-o-y vs. 1.8% expected and 1.6% previous. 

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Despite of a slight miss on the headline CPI print, the pair has managed to hold its neck above 0.75 mark amid prevalent risk-on environment. However, the ongoing up-surge in the US treasury bond yields should continue to lid any sharp recovery for higher-yielding currencies - like the Aussie. 

In absence of any major market moving economic releases, broader market risk sentiment and the US bond dynamics would continue to be key determinants of the pair's movement on Wednesday.

Technical levels to watch

Bears would be eyeing for a decisive weakness through the 0.7500 handle, below which the pair is likely to accelerate the slide towards 0.7475-70 strong horizontal support en-route 0.7430-25 horizontal support.

On the upside, any recovery attempt now seems to confront strong hurdle near mid-0.7500s (200-day SMA), which if cleared might trigger a short-covering rally towards 0.7580-85 intermediate resistance ahead of the 0.7600 handle (50-day SMA).