AUD/USD jumps more than 20 pips on the big beat on Aussie retail sales and trade surplus

• The Aussie dollar has picked up a strong bid in response to above-forecast Aussie retail sales and trade surplus figure.
• Aussie retail sales jumped 0.8 percent in February and the trade surplus widened to AUD 4,801 million, but largely due to a drop in imports.

The bid tone around the Australian dollar strengthened, pushing the AUD/USD to a session high of 0.7078 after Australian retail sales beat estimates by a big margin.

The consumer spending, as represented by retail sales, increased 0.8 percent month-on-month in February, as opposed to an expected 0.2 percent rise following a 0.1 percent in January.         

Meanwhile, Australia's trade surplus or the gap between exports and imports widened to AUD 4,801 million in February from the preceding month's AUD 4,549 million, beating the consensus estimate of AUD 3,800 million.

Exports growth stalled following a 5 percent rise in January, while imports dropped 1 percent following a 3 percent rise in the previous month.

The big beat on retail sales will likely alleviate concerns about the financial health of households, helping the AUD stay better during the day ahead.

AUD/USD Technical Levels