AUD/USD retreats to 0.7400 area, remains on track to post daily gains

• AUD/USD steadies near 0.7400 in the American session.
• US Dollar Index showed no reaction to US data releases.
• Focus shifts to US Labor Statistics' July labour market report.

The AUD/USD pair continued to push higher during the American trading hours on Thursday and reached a daily top of 0.7416 before going into a consolidation phase. As of writing, the pair was up 0.4% on the day at 0.7408.

AUD capitalizes on risk flows

In the absence of high-tier macroeconomic data releases and significant fundamental developments, the risk-positive market environment helped the AUD outperform its American counterpart. Reflecting the improving market mood, Wall Street's main indexes are up between 0.35% and 0.5% on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, the US Department of Labor reported that there were 385,000 initial claims for unemployment benefits in the US during the week ending July 31. This reading came in largely in line with the market expectation and failed to trigger a noticeable market reaction. Other data from the US revealed that the goods and services deficit widened to $75.7 billion in June from $71 billion in May.

Ahead of Friday's highly-anticipated July jobs report, the US Dollar Index looks to close the day flat around 92.20.

Previewing the NNonfarm Payrolls data, "some acceleration in the private sector is suggested by the Homebase data, while government payrolls probably benefited from favorable seasonal adjustments," said TD Securities analysts. "We forecast another 0.3% m/m rise in average hourly earnings. The 12-month change is likely to rise again to 3.8% from 3.6% in June."

Technical levels to watch for