AUD/USD erase gains after US jobless claims, up-next US ISM

The AUD/USD pair ran through fresh offers and erased all of its early gains to 0.7450 region to currently trade around 0.7515 level, absolutely flat from Wednesday's closing level following the release of weekly jobless claims data from the US.

US initial jobless claims rose by 2,000 from previous week's 261k and came-in at 263k, slightly lower-than 265k expected. Ahead of the much awaited Friday's NFP release, mostly in-line with estimates jobless claims reflected the underlying strength of the US labor market and provide an additional boost to the already buoyant sentiment surrounding the greenback. 

Earlier on Thursday, the pair was seen building on to Wednesday's rebound from 100-day SMA support led by upbeat official Chinese manufacturing PMI reading for the month of August. 

However, the pair lost its upside momentum as the incoming data kept raising expectations of an eventual Fed rate-hike action in the near-future. Hence, markets attention remains on Friday's monthly jobs report, which if turns out to be on expected lines would be highly supportive for the greenback and exert additional selling pressure around the AUD/USD major. 

Next on tap would be US ISM manufacturing PMI for the month of August, which might provide fresh impetus for the US Dollar bulls. 

Technical levels to watch

Bear would be aiming for a decisive break below 100-day SMA near 0.7500-0.7495 region, below which the pair seems to break through monthly lows support at 0.7487 level and head towards its next major support near 0.7455-50 region.

On the flip side, strong bullish momentum above 0.7550 immediate resistance should now assist the pair to surpass 0.7580-85 intermediate resistance and aim towards reclaiming 0.7600 handle.