AUD/USD extends its weekly losses and drops below 0.7300

• The AUD/USD continues falling despite an improved market sentiment on the news from Ukraine.
• Ukraine would not insist on joining NATO – AFP.
• AUD/USD Price Forecast: In the long-term neutral-upward biased but might print a leg-down towards the 50% Fibo, confluence with the 0.7200 mark.

The AUD/USD slides for the second consecutive day, despite a vow of a risk-on market mood in the financial markets, spurred by an announcement of Ukraine not insisting on joining NATO, as reported by AFP. However, at the time of writing, the AUD/USD is trading at 0.7280, still down 0.47%.

Earlier in the day, the market mood was dismal, spurred by no advancement on negotiations between Russia-Ukraine. However, developments in the last hour, linked to one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s conditions, to a ceasefire, appear to be fulfilled, in what seems to be a nod to Russia, to remain neutral.

US equity markets jumped off the lows and reacted positively to the headlines, gaining between 1.06% and 2.13%. Gold retraced from daily highs in the commodities complex, while US crude oil benchmark WTI is almost flat, though above $121 per barrel. Meanwhile, as portrayed by the US Dollar Index, the greenback drops 0.30%, sitting at 99.000.

In the overnight session, news from the European Union (EU) getting ready to jointly issue a bond on a considerable scale to finance energy easied the market mood some. However, demand for safe-haven peers and rising US Treasury yields put a lid on the AUD/USD.

The economic docket for both countries lacks the market-moving news expected by market players. Around 22:30 GMT, Reserver Bank of Australia (RBA) Governor Lowe would cross the wires, while on Wednesday, the US economic docket would feature JOLTs Jobs Openings, expected at 10.96M.

AUD/USD Price Forecast: Technical outlook

During the overnight session for North American traders, the AUD/USD jumped off Monday’s lows around 0.7313, reached a daily high around 0.7347, subsequently dipped below the S1 daily pivot point at 0.7244, to then stabilize around 0.7280.

The AUD/USD remains neutral-upward biased, but in the near-term, a leg down to the 50% Fibonacci retracement at 0.7204, an area that confluences with the 100 and the 50-day moving averages (DMAs), might be on the cards. That said, the AUD/USD first support would be the 38.2% Fibonacci level at 0.7260. Once cleared, the AUD/USD would reach the abovementioned level.