AUD/USD remains in recent range as DXY ignores US data

The AUD/USD pair continues to trade in a tight range below the 0.77 handle as the mixed macroeconomic data from the United States failed to provide a fresh catalyst for the greenback. At the moment, the pair is trading at 0.7685, virtually unchanged on the day.

Today's data showed that personal income in the U.S. increased 0.4%, beating the market consensus of 0.3%. However, the PCE price index, Fed's favorite inflation gauge, decreased 0.1% while the core PCE price index, which excludes food and energy, increased 0.1%. Post-data, the US Dollar Index remains calm around mid-0.95s.

The next big catalyst for the aussie will come on Tuesday when the Reserve Bank of Australia announces the monetary policy decision. Analysts at AmpGFX explain "the market was blindsided by the shift to a tightening bias by the Bank of Canada, which has similarities in its housing and commodity exposure to Australia.  The market should be wary of a shift in tone from the RBA at its policy meeting next week.”

• RBA may play it cool, but risk is towards less dovish - AmpGFX

Chicago Purchasing Managers' Index and Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index will be coming up next from the U.S. in the session, however, the pair is likely to continue to consolidate.

Technical outlook

Although the pair is struggling to build on its recent gains on Friday, the RSI on the daily graph continues to show overbought conditions above the 70 mark, suggesting that a deeper technical correction is still possible. 0.7700 (psychological level) could be seen as the first technical resistance ahead of 0.7750 (Mar. 21 high) and 0.7800 (psychological level). On the downside, supports are located at 0.7635 (Jun. 29 low), 0.7580 (20-DMA) and 0.7530 (100-DMA). 

• AUD/USD vulnerable to breakup at current levels - AmpGFX