The AUD/USD pair lost nearly 50 pips on Thursday as the greenback started to outperform its rivals in the second half of the day. However, the pair didn’t have a difficult time staging a rebound on Friday and was last seen gaining 0.35% on a daily basis at 0.7735.
DXY turns south ahead of US data
Earlier in the day, the data from Australia showed that the Commonwealth Bank Manufacturing PMI and the Services PMI improved to 59.6 and 58.6, respectively, in April. These upbeat figures helped AUD/USD gain traction.
On the other hand, the US Dollar Index (DXY) reversed its course after closing modestly higher and is currently losing 0.25% at 91.04. In the second half of the day, the IHS Markit’s preliminary Manufacturing and Services PMI data from the US will be looked upon for fresh impetus. The New Home Sales report for March will be featured in the US economic docket as well.
In the meantime, the S&P 500 Futures are up 0.2%. Following Thursday’s drop, major equity indexes in the US could stage a rebound ahead of the weekend and put additional weight on the USD’s shoulders if the US data reaffirms strong economic recovery.
