AUD/USD consolidates weekly gains below 0.7300 ahead of US NFP data

• AUD/USD is staying relatively quiet below 0.7300 on Friday.
• US Dollar Index continues to push lower as Biden inches closer to a victory.
• Focus shifts to US October Nonfarm Payrolls report. 

The AUD/USD pair closed the first four days of the week in the positive territory and touched its highest level since late September at 0.7290 on Thursday before going into a consolidation phase. As of writing, the pair was down 0.15% on the day at 0.7275.

The broad-based selling pressure surrounding the greenback and the risk-on market environment allowed AUD/USD to remain bullish throughout the week. With the latest results showing that Joe Biden has taken a small lead in the state of Georgia on his way to a possible victory in the presidential race, the USD continues to have a tough time staging a meaningful rebound. At the moment, the US Dollar Index is down 0.28% on the day at 92.37.

Focus shifts to NFP

Later in the day, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics will release the Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) report. Investors expect the NFP to increase by 600K in October and see the Unemployment Rate edging lower to 7.7% from 7.9%. 

Previewing this report, “payrolls probably rose fairly strongly by pre-COVID standards, but with the pace slowing again, and the level still down around 10 M since February," said TD Securities analysts. "We are assuming a 200K decline in government payrolls, due to an unwinding of census hiring as well as another drop in state and local employment.”

Nonfarm Payrolls Preview: Forecast from five major banks for October jobs report.

Meanwhile, investors might look to book their profits following a volatile week and a late correction could be seen in major currency pairs toward the end of the European session.

Technical levels to watch for