AUD/USD holds steady above mid-0.6600s amid positive risk tone, weaker USD

• AUD/USD attracts some buying on Tuesday and snaps a five-day losing streak to a multi-week low.
• A generally positive risk tone undermines the safe-haven USD and benefits the risk-sensitive Aussie.
• Rising US bond yields limit the USD losses and keep a lid on any meaningful upside for the major.

The AUD/USD pair sticks to its intraday gains through the early part of the North American session and is currently placed around the 0.6660-0.6655 region, up nearly 0.25% for the day.

The US Dollar (USD) meets with some supply and stalls a four-day-old recovery trend from over a two-month low touched last week, which, in turn, is seen pushing the AUD/USD pair higher. A generally positive tone around the equity markets is seen as a key factor undermining the Greenback's relative safe-haven status and lending some support to the risk-sensitive Aussie.

The upside for the AUD/USD pair, however, remains capped amid signs that the post-COVID economic recovery in China was losing steam. The concerns were fueled by softer Chinese data, which showed that consumer inflation hit an 18-month low and producer price inflation contracted at a steady pace. This, in turn, acts as a headwind for the China-proxy Australian Dollar.

Apart from this, speculations that the Federal Reserve (Fed) may continue raising interest rates, for now, seem to have put a floor under the US Treasury bond yields. In fact, the current market pricing indicates a greater chance of another 25 bps lift-off at the next FOMC meeting in May. This lends some support to the USD and contributes to capping the AUD/USD pair, at least for now.

Traders also seem reluctant to place aggressive bets ahead of the release of the latest US consumer inflation figures and the FOMC meeting minutes on Wednesday. Investors this week will also confront the release of monthly jobs data from Australia on Thursday, followed by the US monthly Retail Sales on Friday, which should provide a fresh impetus to the AUD/USD pair.

Technical levels to watch