AUD/USD remains flat even as Australia revises July Retail Sales lower
- Australia's Retail Sales rose 3.2% in July versus initial estimate of 3.3%.
- Downward revisions fails to draw offers for the Aussie dollar.
- Deeper pullbacks in stock markets pose risk to AUD/USD.
A downward revision to Australia's July retail sales published a few minutes ago has no negative impact on the Aussie dollar. The AUD/USD pair continues to trade mostly unchanged on the day near 0.7275, having printed a low of 0.7251 early Friday.
Retail sales revised lower
As represented by Retail Sales, Australia's consumer spending rose 3.2% month-on-month in July, the final print released at 1:30 GMT showed. The preliminary estimate released last month had shown a growth of 3.3%.
However, even after the downward revision, the data looks positive. That's because it shows consumer spending remained strong in July amid the resurgence of coronavirus cases and new lockdown restrictions in prominent cities like Melbourne.
The risk-sensitive Aussie dollar will likely face selling pressure during the day ahead if the global stock markets track the US equities lower. Wall Street suffered sharp losses on Thursday as rotation out of technology stocks gathered pace.
And while further correction in stocks cannot be ruled out, a March-like crash looks unlikely, as the Federal Reserve and other central banks are running ultra-accommodative monetary policies. In other words, AUD/USD is likely to remain well supported on dips.
Technical levels