AUD/USD rejected near 0.7600 handle on blistering ADP report

The AUD/USD pair once again faced rejection near 0.7600 handle and quickly reversed around 30-pips from session low touched in the past hour following the release of ADP report.

Currently trading around 0.7570-65 band, the pair ran through fresh offers after data released from the US showed private-sector hiring picked up in January, as employers added 246K jobs. The reading was well-above consensus estimate pointing to 165K new jobs and previous month’s 153K.

The data triggered a sharp up-surge in the US treasury bond yields, eventually lending support to the US Dollar’s tepid recovery move from two-month lows struck yesterday and drove flows away from higher-yielding currencies – like the Aussie. 

Today’s upbeat private sector employment details might have raised barrier for the official jobs report (NFP), scheduled for release on Friday, but now seems to have revived hopes of faster Fed rate-tightening cycle in 2017. 

Next on tap would be the US manufacturing PMI for January ahead of the FOMC monetary policy decision, later during the day. The central bank is widely expected to leave key interest rates unchanged but would be looked upon for fresh signals about the next move towards normalizing interest rates. 

Technical levels to watch

On a sustained move above 0.7600 handle, the pair seems all set to head towards its next resistance near 0.7645-50 region before attempting a move towards reclaiming 0.7700 round figure mark. On the downside, 0.7550 area seems to have emerged as immediate support, which if broken is likely to accelerate the slide back towards the very important 200-day SMA support near 0.7500 psychological mark.