AUD/USD recovers a few pips from daily low, finds some support near 0.6800 mark

• AUD/USD comes under some selling pressure on Thursday, though the downside seems cushioned.
• Looming recession fears cap the optimism in the markets and undermine the risk-sensitive Aussie.
• Rising bets for smaller Fed rate hikes weigh on the USD and help limit deeper losses for the major.

The AUD/USD pair finds decent support near the 0.6800 mark and climbs to the top boundary of its daily trading range during the early European session. The pair is currently placed around the 0.6830-0.6835 region, nearly unchanged for the day, still well below the multi-month high retested on Wednesday.

Despite the reopening of the Chinese economy, growing recession fears keep a lid on any optimism in the markets and act as a headwind for the risk-sensitive Australian Dollar. The downside, meanwhile, seems cushioned, at least for the time being, amid a softer tone surrounding the US Dollar, which continues to be weighed down by the prospects for smaller rate hikes by the Fed.

In fact, the minutes of the December FOMC monetary policy meeting released on Wednesday showed that officials unanimously supported raising borrowing costs at a slower pace. This, in turn, keeps the US Treasury bond yields depressed near a three-week low and is seen undermining the greenback. Traders, however, seem reluctant to place aggressive bets ahead of the US macro data.

Thursday's US economic docket features the release of the ADP report on private-sector employment and the usual Weekly Initial Jobless Claims. This, along with the US bond yields and the broader risk sentiment, will influence the USD dynamics and provide some impetus to the AUD/USD pair. The focus, however, will remain on the closely-watched US jobs report (NFP), scheduled for release on Friday.

Technical levels to watch