AUD/USD slides to fresh weekly lows, further below 0.60 mark

• AUD/USD remains under some selling pressure for the fourth straight session on Friday.
• The prevailing strong bid tone around the USD was seen as a key factor exerting pressure.
• The risk-off mood added to the selling bias; downside seems limited ahead of the US NFP.

The strong bid tone surrounding the greenback pushed the AUD/USD pair to fresh weekly lows, further below the key 0.6000 psychological mark.

The pair witnessed some follow-through selling for the fourth consecutive session on the last trading day of the week and has now retreated around 235 pips from two-week tops, levels beyond the 0.6200 mark set on Tuesday.

An unprecedented surge in the US weekly jobless illustrated the extent of the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, which continued benefitting the US dollar's status as the global reserve currency and exerted fresh pressure on the major.

This coupled with a fresh leg down in the US equity futures, pointing to the prevailing cautious mood in the markets, further weighed on perceived riskier currencies, including the aussie, and contributed to the pair's ongoing slide.

Meanwhile, possibilities of some short-term trading stops being triggered below the 0.60 mark further aggravated the bearish pressure over the past hour or so, albeit the downside is likely to remain limited ahead of NFP.

Investors might be reluctant to place any aggressive bets, rather prefer to wait on the sidelines and look forward to the release of the closely watched US monthly jobs report to determine the next leg of a directional move for the pair.

Technical levels to watch