AUD/USD - bullish move stalls at 0.76 as China reports trade deficit

The bullish momentum in the AUD/USD appears to have run out of steam after China reported a surprise trade deficit for the month of February. 

Trade data skewed

The details show imports jumped 44.7% y/y in CNY terms, which was way above the estimated figure of 23.1%. Exports jumped 4.2%, falling well short of the estimated rise of 14.6%. 

The surprise trade deficit may not rattle markets as February data is usually skewed by the Lunar New Year holiday. Traders await Trade data in USD terms, which should be out in the next few minutes. 

AUD/USD Technical Levels

The pair clocked a high of 0.7609 and was last seen trading around 0.76 handle. A break above 0.7632 (previous day’s high) would open up upside towards 0.77 (zero figure) and 0.7741 (Feb 23 high). On the downside, breakdown of support at 0.7584 would expose 0.7556 (Mar 2 low) and 0.7543 (Mar 3 low)