AUD/USD consolidates daily gains around mid-0.74s

After approaching the 0.74 handle during the Asian session, the AUD/USD pair gathered momentum and rose to 0.7460 in the early trading hours of the NA session as a broad-based selling pressure hit the greenback. However, amid a lack of fundamental drivers, the pair failed to extend its gains and has been trading in a tight 15-pip range in the last couple of hours. As of writing, the pair was up 0.46%, at 0.7452.

Following four straight weeks of losses, the pair is marching towards a positive weekly close, adding nearly 80 pips. In addition to the sustained greenback weakness, the solid performance of oil in the week is also helping the commodity-linked currencies such as the AUD gather strength. In the meantime, major equity indices in the U.S. are performing well on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial and S&P 500 indexes both rising nearly 1% in the NA session.

The US Dollar Index recently refreshed its lowest level since early November at 97.10 as the greenback is facing pressure on dovish comments from Fed's Bullard. Moreover, the fact that there are no macro data from the U.S. is not letting the index make a recovery. At the moment, the DXY is at 97.11, losing 0.68% on the day. 

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Technical outlook

The initial hurdle for the pair aligns at 0.7500 (psychological level), ahead of 0.7555 (20-WMA) and 0.7610 (Apr. 17 high). On the downside, supports could be seen at 0.7430 (20-DMA), 0.7330 (May 9 low) and 0.7285 (Jan. 6 low).

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