AUD/USD: Bulls offered respite on China services PMI

By FXStreet FXStreet (Mumbai) – A classic risk-off environment in Asia combined weak Australian trade figures pose double whammy for the AUD/USD pair, and knocked it off to fresh five-day lows ahead of 0.70 handle, before recovering some ground to now trade near 0.7030 region.

AUD/USD supported at 0.70 handle

Currently, the AUD/USD pair trades -0.18% lower at 0.7026, recovering from a dip to session lows reached at 0.7003 last hours. The AUD bulls were offered support from stronger than expected Chinese services PMI data and lifted the Aussie from lows near 0.7000. The Chinese services sector activity for Jan grew at the fastest pace in 6 months, coming in at 52.4 versus 50.5 expected, and compared to 50.2 last.

The AUD/USD pair was heavily offered earlier on the day after the domestic trade data surprised markets to the downside, while the overnight rout in the oil prices also continued to weigh on the resource-linked Aussie. The trade gap grew from $2.73 billion in November to $3.54 billion in December, coming in much worse than the market forecast of a $2.45 billion deficit.

Meanwhile, markets ignored the upbeat building consents data as risk-off sentiment continued to drive markets. Looking ahead, the US ADP …read more

Source:: FX Street