AUD/USD hangs near 1-month lows, below mid-0.6800s

• AUD/USD on Thursday was rejected near the very important 200-DMA.
• Concerns over the outbreak of coronavirus benefitted the greenback.
• Traders now look forward to the US flash PMI prints for some impetus.

The AUD/USD pair lacked any firm directional bias on Friday and remained well within the striking distance of over one-month lows set earlier this week.

The pair on Thursday failed to capitalize on its goodish intraday positive move – led by stronger Australian employment details – and once again faced rejection near the very important 200-day SMA.

Aussie struggles to register any meaningful recovery

Concerns over China's coronavirus outbreak benefitted the US dollar's perceived safe-haven and turned out to be one of the key factors that prompted some selling around the China-proxy Australian dollar.

The greenback was further supported by the post-ECB weakness in the shared currency and a modest pickup in the US Treasury bond yields during the Asian session on the last trading day of the week.

Meanwhile, a slightly positive tone around equity markets extended some support to perceived riskier currencies – like the aussie – and helped limit deeper losses, at least for the time being.

Moving ahead, market participants now look forward to Friday's thin US economic docket – featuring the release of flash US Manufacturing and Services PMIs – for some short-term impetus.

Technical levels to watch