AUD/USD struggling to recover back above 0.79 handle

The AUD/USD pair finally broke out of the European session consolidative range and jumped back closer to the top end of the daily trading range during early NA session, albeit quickly retreated few pips thereafter. 

Currently hovering around the 0.7900 handle, the pair latest leg of up-move over the past hour or so could be attributed to disappointing US macro data that showed wholesale prices declined for the first time in almost a year and an unexpected rise in the weekly jobless claims. 

A weaker PPI figure might have prompted investors to lower expectations from Friday's CPI print and also seems to have dampened expectations for additional Fed rate hike action in 2017. The same is evident from a sharp retracement in the US Treasury bond yields, which did little to lend any support to the US Dollar recovery move but was seen benefitting higher-yielding currencies - like the Aussie.

Further gains, however, remained limited as investors refrained from placing aggressive bets amid risk-off environment led by rising geopolitical tensions between the US and N. Korea.

Technical levels to watch

Bulls would be eyeing for a sustained move beyond 0.7910 immediate hurdle, above which the pair is likely to dart towards 0.7955 horizontal resistance before aiming to conquer the key 0.80 psychological mark. On the downside, 0.7860-55 zone now seems to have emerged as immediate support, which if broken now seems to accelerate the fall towards 0.7825 intermediate support en-route the 0.7800-0.7790 important support.