AUD/USD clings to modest daily gains near weekly tops

   •  Thursday’s softer CPI print ease fears over faster Fed rate hikes and remain supportive.
   •  A modest USD rebound/disappointing Aussie data keeps a lid on any additional gains.

The AUD/USD pair traded with a mild positive bias for the third consecutive session on Friday and jumped to fresh weekly tops in the last hour.

The pair extended this week's recovery move from the 0.7400 neighborhood, fresh 11-month lows, and surged past the key 0.7500 psychological mark on Thursday following the release of softer-than-expected US CPI. 

Weaker inflationary pressure prompted traders to pare bets over faster Fed rate hikes and the same was evident from a sharp retracement in the US Treasury bond yields, which continued exerting downward pressure on the US Dollar and provided an additional boost to higher-yielding currencies - like the Aussie.

The pair built on overnight strong gains and has now added around 130-pips over the past three trading session, reversing all of its weekly losses. Further gains, however, remained capped on the back of disappointing Australian home loans data, coming in to show a drop of 2.2% m-o-m during March, and a weaker tone around commodity space. 

Today's US economic docket, featuring the only release of Prelim UoM Consumer Sentiment might provide some impetus but is unlikely to be a major game changer on the last trading day of the week. 

Technical levels to watch

Immediate resistance is pegged near mid-0.7500s, above which the pair is likely to extend the recovery move and aim towards reclaiming the 0.7600 handle. On the flip side, the 0.7500 mark now seems to protect the immediate downside, which if broken might accelerate the slide back towards 0.7470 horizontal support.