AUD/USD retrats from daily highs, clings to modest gains around 0.7370
- AUD/USD came under modest pressure in American session.
- US Dollar Index continues to fluctuate below 93.00.
- Wall Street's main indexes trade mixed after the opening bell.
The AUD/USD pair climbed to a daily high of 0.7398 in the early American session but lost its traction in the last hour. As of writing, the pair was trading at 0.7371, where it was still up 0.2% on the day.
DXY rebounds as market mood sours
The broad-based USD weakness helped AUD/USD to push higher during the first half of the day. However, with Wall Street's main indexes struggling to build on the two-day rally, the greenback started to find some demand and limited AUD/USD's upside. At the moment, the US Dollar Index (DXY), which touched a daily low of 92.50, is virtually unchanged on the day at 92.75.
The data from Australia showed earlier in the day that the National Australia Bank's Business Confidence edged lower to 17 in the second quarter from 19 in the first quarter.
On the other hand, the US Department of Labor reported that Initial Jobless Claims rose to 419,000 in the week ending July 17 from 368,000. This reading came in worse than the market expectation of 350,000 and weighed on market sentiment. Other data from the US revealed that Existing Home Sales rose by 1.4% in June and the median home prices surged by 23.4% on a yearly basis.
On Friday, the Commonwealth Bank's Services and Manufacturing PMI reports from Australia will be looked upon for fresh impetus.
Technical levels to watch for