AUD/USD refreshes weekly lows post-ADP, seems vulnerable to slide further
- AUD/USD witnessed some heavy selling on Wednesday and retreated further from YTD tops.
- The USD stood tall and seemed unaffected by the disappointing release of the ADP report.
- The technical set-up favours bearish traders and supports prospects for additional weakness.
The AUD/USD pair added to its intraday losses and dropped to fresh weekly lows, around the 0.7325 region during the early North American session.
The pair extended the previous day's retracement slide from near two-year tops – levels just above the 0.7400 mark – and witnessed some heavy selling on Wednesday. The aussie was being weighed down by weaker-than-expected Australian GDP report, which coupled with some follow-through US dollar buying interest prompted some long-unwinding trade around the AUD/USD pair.
The USD held on to its strong intraday gains and seemed rather unaffected by the disappointing release of the ADP report, which showed that private-sector employers added 428K new jobs in August. The reading missed consensus estimates pointing to the addition of 950K but was well above the previous month's upwardly revised 212K (167K reported previously).
Meanwhile, the upbeat market mood – as depicted by strong gains across the global equity markets – also did little to impress bullish traders or lend any support to the AUSD/USD pair. Hence, some follow-through weakness below the 0.7300 mark, towards testing the 0.7275-70 support area, now looks a distinct possibility.
Technical levels to watch