AUDUSD outperformed on a solid employment report out of Australia yesterday. While the credibility of the data has been called into question by at least some economists, few doubt that the validity of the underlying trend. The employment report showed a rise of 58.6k, nearly triple the median forecast, while the unemployment rate fell to 5.9% from 6.2%. The details of the report were encouraging, including labour participation, aggregate hours worked and back revisions. This report together with some longer term technical factors has caused the 5-day return in AUD to beat most of the counterparts. More on technical in the following pages.
AUDUSD, Daily
While AUDUSD is still inside a weekly long term bearish regression channel (drawn from June 2014 high to the August 2015 low) the price action is suggesting that the bears are getting weaker. There is already one weekly higher low in place which was followed by a higher high. These are signs of the selling pressure turning into a more balance supply and demand dynamic. In March this year I said in the HotForex Global Trends report that divergence between the Fed and RBA rates policies is still rather clear and should pressure the pair towards the 0.7269 support. I also expected the AUDUSD to bottom out in the range between 0.64 and 0.72. The pair indeed dived further and has now reached the levels anticipated in my report. The August low is inside this range and therefore the recent price action is not that surprising.
The daily chart suggests the pair has the line of least resistance below the current price but the 0.7067 support isn’t that far. There is pivotal resistance at 0.7136 while the upper end of the short term regression channel coincides with it. The 50 day moving average above the current market price adds to the technical factors providing resistance. I makes sense to look for sell signals around a resistance but the less negative weekly picture and strong recent employment figures together with the fact that US Dollar index is near an important resistance are risk factors for a short trade from the current levels. I’m looking for sell signals between 0.7194 and 0.7222.
EURAUD, Daily
EUR has found some support against the dollar over the last few days. This however, hasn’t stopped its slide against the AUD and the EURAUD pair is once again moving lower after brief rally yesterday. In the longer term picture the current trading levels coincide with a major support visible in the weekly picture. The 1.5105 level used to resist price advances in December 2015 and July 2015. Yesterday’s trading found a low at a 30 week SMA and caused the market to rally and create a bullish pin bar. This move however hasn’t had any follow through. I expect the market to move towards the 1.4987 low today while an intraday support at 1.5071 could slow it down. The nearest resistance area is between 1.5168 and 1.5303 while the next support after yesterday’s low is at 1.4877.