AUD/USD flirting with daily lows, still comfortable above 0.6800 handle
- Disappointing domestic data exerts some fresh pressure on the aussie.
- US-China trade uncertainty further collaborated to the ongoing slide.
The AUD/USD pair continued losing ground through the mid-European session and is currently placed near the lower end of its daily trading range, around the 0.6830-25 region.
Having failed to capitalize on the previous session's goodish intraday recovery move, the pair met with some fresh supply on Thursday following the releases of weaker Aussie monthly retail sales data and trade balance figure.
RBA easing speculations, trade uncertainty weigh
The latest disappointment comes on the back of Wednesday's softer Aussie GDP print, which further fueled speculations for further monetary policy easing by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and kept exerting some pressure.
Meanwhile, the intraday slide seemed rather unaffected by the prevalent risk-on mood, which tends to underpin demand for perceived riskier currencies like the aussie, and some renewed weakness surrounding the US dollar.
Adding to this, conflicting signals by the US President Donald Trump further raised uncertainty and tempered hopes for a possible US-China trade deal, which did little to lend any support to the China-proxy Australian dollar.
Following the previous day's comments that a trade deal with China may not come until after the 2020 US presidential election, Trump on Wednesday sounded more positive and said that talks with China were going very well.
It will now be interesting to see if the pair continues to find some support near 100-day SMA or the current pullback marks the end of this week's strong positive move as the focus now shifts to Friday's US monthly jobs report (NFP).
Technical levels to watch