AUD/USD spikes above 0.6890 with initial reaction to US NFP data

• Nonfarm Payrolls in US rose 145,000 to fall short of expectations.
• US Dollar Index rebounds above 97.50 following a knee-jerk drop.
• AUD/USD remains on track to close week in red despite Friday's performance.

The AUD/USD pair jumped to a fresh daily high of 0.6892 in the early trading hours after the closely-watched Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) data from US came in worse than expected to weigh on the USD. However, the pair struggled to preserve its strength and returned to 0.6880 area, where it was up 0.3% on a daily basis. For the week, the pair is erasing around 50 pips. 

USD fluctuates as markets assess NFP report

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, NFP in December rose 145,000 following November's reading of 256,000 (revised from 266,000) and fell short of the market expectation of 164,000. Additionally, the Average Hourly Earnings fell to 2.9% on a yearly basis from 3.1%. On a positive tone, the Unemployment Rate stayed unchanged at 3.5% as expected.

The US Dollar Index, which dropped to 97.40, was last up 0.08% on the day at 97.50.

On the other hand, the last data of the week from Australia earlier in the day revealed that Retail Sales in November increased by 0.9% on a monthly basis after staying unchanged in October and bettered analysts' estimate of 0.4% to help the AUD outperform its rivals ahead of the weekend.

Technical levels to watch for