AUD/USD extends slide to 9-day lows near 0.6930 ahead of Australia jobs report

• US Dollar Index rises toward the 97 mark.
• Inflation in the U.S. softens more than expected.
• Unemployment rate in Australia is expected to tick down to 5.1% in May.

After spending the majority of the day moving in a tight range near 0.6950, the AUD/USD pair came under a renewed selling pressure and fell to its lowest level since June 3 at 0.6928. As of writing, the pair was trading at 0.6932, losing 0.42% on a daily basis.

The recent fall witnessed in the pair seems to be caused by fresh demand for the greenback. Despite a lack of fundamental drivers, the US Dollar Index extended its daily recovery toward the 97 mark in the NA session and was last up 0.23% on the day at 96.95. Today's data from the United States showed that inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), rose 0.1% and 1.8% on a monthly and yearly basis, respectively. Furthermore, the annual core CPI ticked down to 2% in the same period to miss the market expectation of 2.1%.

In the meantime, while responding to questions from reporters in a press conference in Poland, U.S. President Donald Trump said that he had a feeling that they will make a deal with China to revive the trade optimism and helped the greenback gain traction.

In the early trading hours of the Asian session, labour market data from Australia will be looked upon for fresh impetus. Previewing the data, "NAB is forecasting a strong report given the employment boost from temporary workers hired to run the federal election. We expect employment grew by 40k and the unemployment rate ticked down to 5.1% in May," NAB analysts said.

"If we are wrong and unemployment increases again, then the market would price in the risk of a July rate cut.” 

Technical levels to watch for