AUD/USD: Resilient despite fifth striaght quarterly drop in Aussie Construction Work Done

• AUD/USD is showing resilience to dismal Aussie data release. 
• Construction work done fell for the fifth straight quarter in the third quarter. 
• The decline, however, was less severe than expected by markets. 

AUD/USD is currently trading largely unchanged on the day at 0.6788, having hit a low of 0.6782 a few minutes before press time. 

The Australian currency is showing resilience to dismal Aussie data. The Construction Work Done (Q3) came in at -0.4% - the fifth straight quarterly decline. The data feeds into the gross domestic product, which will be released next week. 

The actual figure, however, was better than the expected 1% decline. The metric had dropped by 3.8% in the second quarter. 

The above-forecast reading may power AUD higher to 0.68. Further gains may remain elusive if the equities report losses. Currently, the futures on the S&P 500 are trading flat-to-negative, despite the trade optimism.  

President Trump on Tuesday said the United States and China were close to agreeing on the first phase of a trade deal. Washington is in the “final throes” of work on a deal, Trump said, adding further that US' support for Hong Kong protests is a sore point for China. 

The positive comments are encouraging, but investors will likely take them with a pinch of salt. After all, both the US and China have repeatedly backtracked from positive comments in the past. 

Technical levels