AUD/USD Price Analysis: Fell on a geopolitical headline, unable to reclaim 0.7200

• The Australian dollar is up 0.69% in the week, despite the Russia/Ukraine conflict.
• The AUD/USD needs to break above the 0.7200-0.7240 to shift the bias to neutral-upwards.
• The AUD/USD is neutral-downwards, but upside risks remain.

On Thursday, during the New York session, the AUD/USD reached a daily high at 0.7217, followed by a drop below a four-month-old downslope trendline, sparked in part by geopolitical headlines, alongside the former, retracing under 0.7200. The AUD/USD is flat at press time, trading at 0.7193.

During the week, the AUD/USD began on the wrong foot but recovered on Tuesday, when the three-day rally commenced. On Wednesday, the upward break of the 50-DMA at 0.7169 ignited a move towards 0.7200, but AUD bulls fell short of it, stalling at the four-month-old aforementioned trendline around 0.7204.

On Thursday, AUD/USD bulls launched an attack but retreated 80-pips on a Russia/Ukraine headline and could not reclaim the 0.7200 mark.

AUD/USD Price Forecast: Technical outlook

Timeframe: Daily chart.

The AUD/USD is neutral biased, slightly tilted to the downside, facing a wall of solid resistance levels in the 0.7200-40 area. Breach of the latter would expose the January 20 daily high at 0.7257, followed by the January 13 at 0.7313.

However, the AUD/USD path of least resistance is downwards. The first support would be the 50-DMA at 0.7170. A clear break would send the pair tumbling to February 14 daily low at 0.7085, followed by the February 4 daily low at 0.7051.