AUD/USD climbs back closer to over 1-week tops, comfortable above 0.71 mark

   •  Subdued USD demand helps regain positive traction and defend the 0.7100 handle.
   •  A positive tone around commodity space provided an additional boost to the Aussie.

The AUD/USD pair regained positive traction at the start of a new trading week and has now moved within striking distance of over one-week tops set on Friday. 

The pair, for the second straight session, managed to find decent buying interest near the 0.7100 handle and was supported by a subdued US Dollar demand. Despite some renewed uptick in the US Treasury bond yields, the USD struggled to build on Friday's up-move/preserve early gains and was seen as one of the key factors driving the pair higher.

This coupled with a mildly positive tone around commodity space, especially copper, underpinned the commodity-linked Australian Dollar and remained supportive of the bid tone through the early European session. 

Currently trading around the 0.7130 region, holding with gains for the second session in the previous three, traders now look forward to the key release of US monthly retail sales data for some fresh impetus ahead of the RBA Assist Gov Debelle's scheduled speech during the Asian session on Tuesday.

Technical levels to watch

On a sustained move beyond 0.7140 level, the pair is likely to aim towards reclaiming the 0.7200 handle with some intermediate hurdle near the 0.7170-75 region. On the flip side, the 0.7100 handle now seems to have emerged as an immediate strong support, which if broken might prompt some fresh selling and drag the pair back below the 0.7075 horizontal support towards its next major support near the 0.7050-40 area.