AUD/USD drifts back closer to 0.79 handle, one-month lows ahead of Yellen

Having posted a session high near mid-0.7900s, the AUD/USD pair ran through some fresh offers and has now drifted back closer to last Friday's near one-month lows.

The pair extended last week's sharp rejection slide from the 0.8100 handle and remained under some selling pressure for third day in the previous four. A fresh wave of greenback buying interest, lifting the key US Dollar Index to fresh three-week tops, has been one of the key factors weighing on the major.

Growing prospects for an additional Fed rate hike action by the end of this year, despite yesterday's mixed comments from the New York Fed President William Dudley and the Chicago Fed President Charles Evans, the greenback continued gaining traction and kept a lid on the pair's up-move. 

Even the prevalent positive trading sentiment around copper prices did little to lend any support to commodity-linked currency and stall the pair's fall to session lows, around 0.7920-15 area.

Later during the day, the Fed Chair Janet Yellen's speech would influence market expectations over the central bank's near-term monetary policy outlook and eventually provide some fresh impetus for higher-yielding currencies - like the Aussie. 

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Ahead of the important event, the US economic docket, featuring the release of CB Consumer Confidence index and new home sales data, would also be looked upon for some short-term trading impetus.

Technical levels to watch

Bulls would be disheartened if the pair fails to defend the 0.7900 handle, below which the slide could get extended towards 0.7870 intermediate support en-route 0.7840 level. 

On the upside, 50-day SMA near mid-0.7900s now seems to have emerged as immediate resistance, which if cleared could help the pair to move back towards reclaiming the key 0.80 psychological mark.