The Australian currency slightly lost its advantage against the US dollar due to the absence of important macroeconomic publications during the New Year and Christmas holidays and is now trading around 0.6750.
According to the Q3 report, the tourism industry in Australia created 604.2K jobs, up by 18.6K from the second quarter. Compared to the same period last year, the growth in the number of employees in the sector amounted to 58.7% or 223.5K people, and the most positive dynamics was noted in the catering system, which increased the number of vacancies by 8.4K. However, the hospitality sector recorded a decrease of 1.4K.
The key event last night was the data on the index of pending sales in the US real estate market, which reached 73.9 points, losing 4.0%, although analysts expected a correction of only –0.8%. These data had practically no effect on the dynamics of the US dollar, whose quotes remained around 104.000 in the USD Index. However, the situation may change today when the statistics on initial jobless claims are published. Analysts expect another increase in the indicator to 225.0K from 216.0K a week earlier, which could lead to an increase in the total number of applications to 1.686M from 1.672M.
On the daily chart, the price continues to trade below the resistance line of the local rising channel.
Technical indicators keep a buy signal: fast EMAs on the Alligator indicator are still above the signal line, and the AO oscillator histogram has again moved into the buy zone.
Support levels: 0.6670, 0.6520. | Resistance levels: 0.6800, 0.6980.