AUD/USD holds steady near YTD top, flat-lined above 0.7500 mark amid mixed cues

• AUD/USD was seen consolidating its recent strong gains recorded over the past two weeks or so.
• The Fed’s hawkish outlook acted as a tailwind for the USD and kept a lid on any meaningful gains.
• A positive risk tone, bullish commodity prices extended some support to the resources-linked aussie.

The AUD/USD pair seesawed between tepid gains/minor losses through the early North American session and for now, seems to have stabilized above the 0.7500 psychological mark.

The pair witnessed a range-bound price action on Friday and consolidated its recent strong bullish run of over 350 pips from the monthly low, around the 0.7165 region touched last week. The downside remained cushioned amid a generally positive tone around the equity markets, which tends to benefit the perceived riskier aussie.

Apart from this, bullish commodity prices turned out to be another factor that acted as a tailwind for the resources-linked Australian dollar. That said, the emergence of some US dollar dip-buying held back bulls from placing aggressive bets and kept a lid on any further gains for the AUD/USD pair, at least for the time being.

The greenback drew support from expectations that the Fed would adopt a more aggressive policy stance to bring down unacceptably high inflation. In fact, the markets have been pricing in the possibility of a 50 bps rate hike move at the May meeting. This was reinforced by elevated US bond yields, which underpinned the buck.

Nevertheless, the AUD/USD pair now seems to have found acceptance above the 0.7500 mark and remains on track to post strong gains for the second successive week. Bulls now await sustained break through a resistance marked by the top boundary of an ascending channel extending from the YTD low before placing fresh bets.

Technical levels to watch