AUD/USD retreats from highs, struggling to break through 0.76 handle

The AUD/USD pair reversed all of its early up-move and now seems to have faced rejection near the 0.7600 handle.

The hawkish Fed decision, coupled with Thursday's better-than-expected US economic data, remained supportive of a modest up-tick in the US Treasury bond yields, which was eventually seen weighing on higher-yielding currencies - like the Aussie.

Adding to this, a subdued action around commodity space did little to extend any support to the commodity-linked currencies and dragged the pair back to the lower end of daily trading range, around 0.7580-75 region.

Even yesterday's upbeat Australian jobs data failed to attract any strong follow through buying interest and possibilities of a near-term corrective slide now seems a distinct possibility.

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On the last trading day of the week, the US housing market data would be looked upon for some short-term trading during early NA session.

Technical levels to watch

A follow through retracement below 100-day SMA near 0.7560-55 area is likely to find support at the very important 200-day SMA near 0.7530 region, which if broken could drag the pair back towards the key 0.75 psychological mark.

On the upside, the 0.7600 handle remains immediate hurdle, which if conquered now seems to lift the pair beyond multi-month highs resistance near 0.7630-35 region en-route 0.7670-75 hurdle.