AUD/USD Forecast: Boosted by gold and equities’ gains

AUD/USD Current Price: 0.7372

• Upbeat Australian employment figures boosted demand for the commodity-linked currency.
• Wall Street changed course after a soft start to the day, providing support to AUD.
• AUD/USD could extend its advance to 0.7555 once above the 0.7400 threshold.

The Australian Dollar was among the best performers on Thursday, advancing against its American rival to 0.7391, holding nearby at the beginning of the Asian session. The commodity-linked currency got boosted by Australian employment data released at the beginning of the day, which resulted much better than anticipated. The country managed to add 121.9K full-time jobs, and while the number of part-time positions was down by 44.5K, the final total resulted at 77.4K, more than doubling the 37K expected. The Unemployment Rate contracted to 4%, while the Participation Rate was up to 66.4%.

A substantial recovery in gold prices provided additional support to the aussie, as the bright metal recovered towards $1,950 a troy ounce. Additionally, US indexes managed to shrug off the sour tone of their overseas counterparts and posted modest gains, underpinning AUD/USD. Wall Street trimmed early losses following news that international bondholders received Russian bond coupon payments due March 16th in dollars. Australia will not publish relevant macroeconomic data on Friday.

AUD/USD short-term technical outlook

The AUD/USD pair is firmly up for a second consecutive day, pressuring the daily high and looking strong enough to extend its gains. The daily chart shows that the pair has accelerated north after breaking above a still bearish 200 SMA, while the 20 SMA gains bullish traction below the longer one. Technical indicators, in the meantime, head firmly higher within positive levels, maintaining the risk skewed to the upside.

The 4-hour chart shows that technical indicators reached overbought readings before losing their bullish strength, now holding on to extreme levels. At the same time, the pair is well above all of its moving averages, with the 20 SMA gaining bullish traction between the longer ones, reflecting resurgent buying interest.

Support levels: 0.7365 0.7330 0.7290

Resistance levels: 0.7400 0.7440 0.7475

View Live Chart for the AUD/USD