AUD/USD stuck at 4-hour 200-MA

A surprise Australian trade surplus failed to impress the AUD bulls, thus the AUD/USD pair is having a tough time taking out 0.7349 (200-MA hurdle on 4-hour chart). 

Bullish exhaustion near key trend line hurdle

Pair’s retreat from 0.7350 for the second time in last 24 hours marks exhaustion near the descending trend line (coming from Nov 9 high and Dec 14 high).

The data released in Australia earlier today showed trade balance swung to a surplus of $1.2 billion in November. This was the first surplus since early 2014. However, the upbeat data failed to strengthen the bid tone around the Aussie dollar. 

Furthermore, the strength in China’s Yuan today is doing little to help the Aussie dollar as well. 

AUD/USD Technical Levels 

A break above 0.7360 (trend line hurdle) would expose 0.74 (zero figure), above which a major hurdle is seen at 0.7442 (Sep 13 low). On the other hand, a breakdown of support at 0.73 (zero figure) could yield a sell-off to 0.7258 (Dec 22 high) and then to 0.7220 (Dec 28 high).