AUD/USD extends Chinese PMI-led up-move, now eyeing 0.75 mark

The AUD/USD pair continued gaining traction through early European session and moved within striking distance of reclaiming the key 0.75 psychological mark.

The pair remained well bid despite of a modest up-tick in the US treasury bond yields, which helped the key US Dollar Index to recover from its lowest level since the US Presidential election in November touched in the aftermath of Friday's weaker headline NFP print.

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Traders even shrugged off the prevalent bearish sentiment surrounding copper prices, which tends to weigh on commodity-linked currencies - like the Aussie, with today's better-than-expected corporate profits data from Australia and stronger Chinese services PMI helping the pair to build on Friday's strong up-surge.

Meanwhile, possibilities of some stops being triggered on a decisive break through 0.7455-60 hurdle might have also collaborated to the pair's sharp spike in the past hour or so. It, however, remains to be seen if the pair is able to extend the up-move and aims towards reclaiming the 0.75 handle ahead of the RBA monetary policy decision during Asian session on Tuesday.

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Today's US economic docket features the release of revised Nonfarm Productivity, ISM non-manufacturing PMI and factory orders data, and would be looked upon for some short-term trading impetus.

Technical levels to watch

The 0.7500 mark is likely to act as immediate hurdle, above which a fresh bout of short-covering should accelerate the up-move towards 0.7540-45 region en-route 0.7585 resistance. 

On the downside, retracement back below 0.7460 level now seems to find immediate support near 0.7435-30 region, which if broken is likely to drag the pair back towards the 0.7400-0.7390 region.