AUD / USD Bulls Struggle to Stay Above 0.7600 Despite Rising Covid-19 Cases in Sydney

• Australian bulls are struggling to hold the pair above the 0.7600 level for the third time on Friday.
• The pair was down modestly for the day as the USD recovers.

He AUD/USD it is again struggling to keep its head above the 0.7600 level, having already fallen to a low of 0.7580 at the end of the Asian session and then back towards 0.7590 at the start of the European session. On the day, the pair is trading with losses of around 0.2% or 15 pips, as the USD embarks on a broad and mild recovery that has seen the dollar index rise above the 90.00 level again from Thursday’s lows in 89.70.

Aussie Ignores Concerns Over Sydney Covid-19 Outbreak

A stay-at-home order was issued through Monday in Sydney’s North Beaches area, affecting hundreds of thousands of residents following a new localized Covid-19 outbreak that ended a two-week streak of zero cases. reported. 28 new cases have been reported throughout the region. The New South Wales state government has urged all residents to wear masks in public and remain on high alert, while residents of the state now face restrictions on travel to other states, such as Victoria to the south.

An outbreak in Victoria during the summer months (or winter months in Australia) weighed on economic activity in the third quarter and weighed on the AUD as well. The fast-growing risk of history repeating itself in NSW does not appear to have raised much concern among AUD traders; The Aussie is marginally outperforming its more immediately comparable G10 counterparts NZD and CAD on Friday. This will of course be an important story to watch for over the next few days / weeks, with any risk of a serious escalation in this Sydney outbreak posing downside risks for the AUD.