• AUD/USD refreshes intraday low, drops for consecutive second day.
• Australia’s preliminary Retail Sales dropped 1.1% in February.
• Market sentiment consolidates ahead of BOJ, US-China jitters probe the optimists.
• Treasury yields step back from 14-month top, S&P 500 Futures print mild gains.

AUD/USD stands on a slippery ground while refreshing the intraday low with 0.7740, down 0.23% on a day, after Aussie data disappointed traders during early Friday. Not only the preliminary readings of Australia’s Retail Sales for February but the US-China tussles and reflation fears also weigh on the quote even as the US Treasury yields ease from the multi-month top.

The first reading of Australia’s Retail Sales dropped way below 0.5% prior and 0.4% market consensus to -1.1% MoM during the latest announcement.

The data adds to the AUD/USD weakness amid geopolitical fears emanating from China and North Korea.

Not only the tough stand against Beijing and North by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin but squabbles in Alaska meeting between the American and Chinese diplomats also highlight old geopolitical fears. Elsewhere, Iran is also alleged to secretary piling nuclear arms and worrying global markets.

It should, however, be noted that the European Medicine Authority (EMA) and US President Joe Biden have recently been successful in renewing vaccine optimism ahead of the comments from the World Health Organization (WHO).

Amid these plays, S&P 500 Futures part ways from Wall Street benchmarks while flashing 0.24% intraday gains whereas the US 10-year Treasury yield drops 1.5 basis points to 1.714%. It’s worth mentioning that the US bond coupon for 10-years jumped to the highest since January the previous day as markets shrugged off Fed’s efforts to tame bond bears.

Looking forward, a lack of major data/events, except for the BOJ meeting, in Asia keeps risk catalysts in the driver’s seat.

Technical analysis

Failures to provide a daily closing beyond January’s top around 0.7820 keep AUD/USD sellers hopeful to break an eight-day-old support line near 0.7722.