AUD/USD extends gains to weekly highs, approaches 0.6800

• US Dollar Index tumbles after US economic data. 
• US stocks rise on Thursday, the Nasdaq leads with a 1.40% gain. 
• AUD/USD up by almost a hundred pips, approaches 0.6800. 

The AUD/USD gained momentum after the release of US Data and continued to move higher during the American session amid risk appetite. The pair is hovering around 0.6778, at the highest level since April 4. 

Earlier on Thursday, the Australia Employment report surprised with a 53K job gain in March above the 20K of market consensus. Analysts at ANZ, don’t think this will be enough for the Reserve Bank of Australia “to return to hiking the cash rate in May, given its reasoning for pausing in April: to assess the impacts of the cumulative 350bp of hikes delivered so far, given the long lags of monetary policy.”

The Aussie rose modestly after the jobs report, with AUD/USD climbing back above 0.6700. The rally took place after the release of US economic data, with wholesale inflation falling more than expected in March and Jobless Claims pointing to a softer labor market. Those number triggered a dollar sell-off and boosted risk appetite. 

The context on Thursday favors commodity currencies. AUD/USD is up by almost a hundred pips and NZD/USD has broken above 0.6300. 

Looking at 0.6800

The AUD/USD is trading at 0.6776, the highest level in a week and is testing the 55-day Simple Moving Average. A break above would turn the attention to the 0.6800 area. 

The technical outlook looks constructive for the Aussie in the short-term. A slide under 0.6600 would strengthen the US Dollar. 

Technical outlook