AUD/USD remains confined in a range below 0.7300 mark

• AUD/USD consolidated the previous day’s goodish rebound from two-week lows.
• The downside remains cushioned amid the prevalent selling bias around the USD.
• Sustained move beyond 0.7300 needed to support prospects for additional gains.

The AUD/USD pair remained confined in a range below the 0.7300 mark through the Asian session and consolidated the previous day's goodish rebound from two-week lows.

The US dollar struggled to preserve its early gains and witnessed a sharp intraday turnaround on Wednesday amid a strong pickup in the shared currency. This, in turn, prompted some short-covering around the AUD/USD pair.

This coupled with a strong rally in the US equity markets provided an additional boost to the perceived riskier Australian dollar and contributed to the pair's strong intraday rally of around 100 pips from sub-0.7200 levels.

The greenback remained depressed through the first half of the trading action on Thursday, albeit failed to impress bulls or provide any meaningful impetus to the AUD/USD pair. This makes it prudent to wait for some follow-through buying beyond the 0.7300 mark before positioning for any further appreciating move.

Market participants now look forward to the much-awaited ECB monetary policy decision, which might infuse some volatility in the FX market. Later during the early North American session, the release of the US initial weekly jobless claims will influence the USD price dynamics and assist traders to grab some short-term opportunities.

Technical levels to watch