AUD/USD consolidates in a range near mid-0.7800s, Powell’s testimony awaited

   •  Struggles to gain traction despite a modest USD weakness.
   •  Subdued US bond yields/bullish copper prices fail to lend support.
   •  Powell's testimony/important US macro data eyed for fresh impetus. 

The AUD/USD pair lacked any firm directional bias and seesawed between tepid gains/minor losses, around mid-0.7800s, through the Asian session on Tuesday. 

Having failed ahead of the 0.7900 handle on Monday, the pair now seems to have entered a consolidation phase and has failed to benefit from a mildly softer tone surrounding the US Dollar. 

Even a subdued action around the US Treasury bond yields, and positive copper prices failed to revive demand for the higher-yielding/commodity-linked Australian Dollar and provide any fresh impetus to the major.

It would now be interesting to see if the pair manages to hold its neck above 100-day SMA immediate support or extends previous session's sharp retracement slide from multi-day tops as investors look forward to the Fed Chair Jerome Powell's first testimony before the Congress and important US macro data for some fresh impetus. 

Technical outlook

Valeria Bednarik, American Chief Analyst at FXStreet writes: “The fact that the early rally was rejected from a major long-term resistance leans the scale toward the downside for the upcoming sessions, moreover if the pair breaks below 0.7820, the next Fibonacci level and the immediate support. The technical outlook is neutral, as in the 4 hours chart, the pair is developing a few pips above a horizontal 20 SMA, while technical indicators revert their early rallies and settled around their mid-lines.”