AUD/USD SEESAWS AROUND MID-0.6600S AMID FRAGILE MARKETS, MIXED CONCERNS ABOUT FED - l

AUD/USD treads water around 0.6650, after the previous day’s upbeat performance, as bulls brace for the biggest weekly gain in seven heading into the next week’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) monetary policy meeting. It should be noted that the upbeat Aussie data and improvement in the market sentiment favored the risk-barometer pair even as the latest moves seem to portray traders’ cautious mood amid a light calendar at home.

Global policymakers and banks rushed to tame the banking industry fallout and favored the market sentiment the previous day. However, the investors aren’t all in and remain cautious as some of the latest market performance resembles the 2008 financial crisis.

That said, comments from Saudi National Bank's Chairman, Ammar Al Khudairy, conveying the “sound” conditions of Credit Suisse join the major US banks’ efforts to help California-based First Republic Bank to avoid a liquidity crunch to favor the risk-on mood. On the same line were the news that Credit Suisse eyes borrowing up to CHF50 billion from the Swiss National Bank (SNB) to strengthen liquidity, as well as Reuters quoting anonymous sources to confirm that the US banks are less vulnerable to the Credit Suisse debacle. Furthermore, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s assurance over the US banking industry’s health and European Central Bank’s (ECB) 50 bps rate hike, matching expectations, also favored the sentiment and allowed the latest run-up in the AUD/USD prices.