AUD / USD continues to rise, eyes set on 0.7550

• AUD / USD broke above 0.7500 for the first time since June 2018 during Thursday’s session.
• Rising commodity prices appeared to help, as did a broad weakening of the USD.

The AUD/USD it has continued to climb since breaking above 0.7500 during Thursday’s session. The pair has recently posted highs at 0.7530 and is currently trading with gains on the day north of 90 pips or around 1.3%.

Commodity prices rise

Although not as strong as CAD, AUD also has a decent positive correlation with crude oil markets, so the more than 3% rise seen in WTI and Brent oil on Thursday is a factor helping AUD. . No specific catalyst appears behind the rally seen in crude oil markets Thursday, with traders apparently leading the way in vaccine positivity (the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine is expected to get US approval this week and the US fiscal stimulus.

Meanwhile, the AUD also has a strong positive correlation with industrial metals (Australia’s biggest export is iron ore, while copper is another important export); The Bloomberg Industrial Metals Index rose from less than 135 to more than 137 in recent hours and is currently holding gains of almost 1.8% on the day, helping to prop up the AUD. As in the crude oil markets, the rally in industrial metals did not appear to have any particular catalyst aside from the aforementioned optimism regarding vaccines and stimuli.

Strong data helps too

While recent gains in commodity prices are a helping factor for the AUD, a series of much stronger-than-expected Australian data releases has also contributed to the buildup of optimism towards the AUD. Already this week; the AIG services index (November) rose to 52.9 from 51.4, the house price index (quarterly for the third quarter) rose 0.8% against expectations of a 1% decline, NAB business confidence rose to 12 from 5 and Westpac’s consumer sentiment index rose 4.1% in December to 112 (its highest levels since October 2010).

Technical levels