AUD/USD climbs to fresh daily highs near 0.7150 on renewed USD weakness

• AUD/USD started to push higher in the American session.
• US Dollar Index extended its daily slide toward 92.80.
• Consumer confidence in the US weakened modestly in October.

The AUD/USD pair spent the first half of the day fluctuating in the positive territory near 0.7130 and started to push higher in the last hour with the greenback having a hard time finding demand. As of writing, the pair was up 0.28% on the day at 0.7142.

The broad-based USD weakness during the American session seems to be proving a boost to AUD/USD. After starting the day little changed, Wall Street's main indexes started to edge higher to signalling a positive shift in market sentiment. At the moment, the Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 indexes are up 0.95% and 0.2%, respectively, while the US Dollar Index is losing 0.3% at 92.79.

Meanwhile, the data from the US showed that the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index declined to 100.9 in October from 101.3 in September. On a positive note, the Richmond Fed Manufacturing Index improved from 21 to 29 in October and the Durable Goods Orders increased by 1.9% in September.

Focus shifts to Australian inflation figures

Earlier in the day, Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Deputy Governor Guy Debelle refrained from commenting on the possibility of additional easing measures at the RBA's next meeting. However, Debelle noted that the negative impact of the coronavirus outbreak in Victoria was likely to be smaller than feared.

On Wednesday, the inflation report Australia will be watched closely by the market participants. Previewing this data, "the Trimmed Mean Consumer Price Index (CPI) from the RBA is expected at 0.3% QoQ from -0.1%, and at 1.1% YoY from 1.2% in Q2," noted FXStreet's Chief Analyst Valeria Bednarik. “Should the numbers miss the market’s expectations, a cash rate cut to 0.1% could be taken for granted for the upcoming meeting, on November 4, with AUD/USD probably falling towards the 0.7000 figure.”

Technical levels to watch for