AUD/USD trims intraday losses above 0.7150 after upbeat Aussie Retail Sales
- AUD/USD keeps recovery moves from 0.7163, snaps a four-day winning streak on a daily chart.
- Australian Retail Sales shrank lesser than -4.2% forecast to -4.0% in September.
- Market mood stays sober ahead of the US employment data.
- Copper’s decline, US stimulus deadlock and anticipated Sino-American tussle favor sellers.
AUD/USD takes rounds to 0.7170/75 during early Wednesday. The pair recently considered better than forecast Aussie Retail Sales data to extend its pullback from 0.7163. Even so, a challenge to risk flashes a negative daily closing of the quote.
Australian Retail Sales beat the preliminary forecast of -4.2% with -4.0% prints in September. In doing so, the data reverses the previous month’s 3.2% advances.
Read: Australia's retail sales fell 4% in August
Talking about the risk, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin again failed to strike a chord on the coronavirus (COVID-19) bill. Even so, the Democrats pushed their bill amount of $2.2 trillion through the house to inflate the pessimism surrounding the negotiations as Republicans are less likely to approve anything beyond a $1.5 trillion package.
Elsewhere, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) cites the American preference for Taiwan, over Beijing, which in turn can tear apart already fragile relations between the US and China. Also likely to contribute in this direction is the headline from the Financial Times (FT) suggesting deployment of forces in Hong Kong to tame the democracy protests.
It should be noted that the Brexit uncertainty, copper’s decline and the COVID-19 headlines are an extra burden on the risk tone and weighs down the S&P 500 Futures. Even so, Japan’s Nikkei 225 trades mildly positive above 23,200 after resuming trading on Friday following the previous day’s technical glitch.
Looking forward, global players are all waiting for the September month employment data for fresh impulse while anticipated voting on the US COVID-19 bill is also a key issue to follow.
Read: US Employment Situation Report September Preview: A challenge to define normality
Technical analysis
AUD/USD buyers are less likely to enter unless breaking a confluence of 21-day and 50-day SMA, currently near 0.7206/12. As a result, the August 20 low, near 0.7130, will gain intraday sellers’ attention ahead of 100-day SMA near 0.7030.