AUD/USD loses its recovery momentum near 0.6830 as US Dollar rebounds

• AUD/USD loses ground near 0.6830 amid the quiet session on Friday.
• US Initial Jobless Claims grew to 218,000, worse than expected.
• The RBA’s first board meeting for 2024 will be held on February 5 and 6.
• The Chicago Purchasing Managers’ Index for December is due on Friday.

The AUD/USD pair loses its recovery momentum during the early Asian session on Friday. The US Dollar (USD) bounces off the lowest level since July near 100.85 and then recovers to 101.25. The market is likely to be quiet on the last trading day of 2023 due to the light economy data and the holiday mode. AUD/USD currently trades around 0.6830, down 0.02% on the day.

Data released on Thursday showed that the US Initial Jobless Claims for the week ending December 23 rose to 218,000, worse than the market expectation of 210,000. Continuing Claims came in at 1.875 million, the highest level in four weeks. Finally, Pending Home Sales remained flat in November, below the market consensus of a 1% increase.

As per the minutes of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), the members agreed to wait for further data to evaluate how the risk balance was evolving, however, there had been encouraging signs of progress towards the board’s objectives and that this needed to continue. Traders will look for evidence that inflation is continuing to drop towards the RBA target in the quarterly Consumer Price Index (CPI) coming on January 31. The RBA’s first board meeting for 2024 will be held on February 5 and 6.

Moving on, the Chicago Purchasing Managers’ Index for December will be released later on Friday. However, this figure might not have a significant impact on the market amid the light trading volume.