• AUD/USD attracts sellers for the third straight day and reacts little to Australia’s mixed CPI data.
• A tech-driven selloff in global equity markets and the Fed’s hawkish tilt lend support to the USD.
• Conflicting messages on Iran’s nuclear issues further benefit the buck and weigh on spot prices.

The AUD/USD pair turns lower for the third straight day following a modest Asian session uptick to the 0.6920-0.6925 area and drops to a fresh low since April 7 on Wednesday. Bears now await a sustained breakdown and acceptance below the 0.6900 mark before positioning for an extension of the recent pullback from a four-year peak.

Following a rather muted reaction to mixed Australian consumer inflation figures, the AUD/USD pair attracts fresh sellers and seems vulnerable to slide further in the face of a broadly firmer US Dollar (USD). The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reported that the headline Consumer Price Index (CPI) fell 0.7% in May, with the annual rate easing from 4.2% to 4.0%, or the slowest pace in three months. However, the trimmed mean CPI rose 0.4% in May and lifted the annual core rate to 3.6%.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) reiterated earlier this month that it will not hesitate to tighten further if inflation remains above its target band of 2% to 3%. Moreover, traders are still pricing in a roughly 15 basis point (bps) of additional tightening for the remainder of the year. This, however, does little to provide any meaningful boost to the Australian Dollar (AUD) as a tech-driven global equity selloff and the US Federal Reserve's (Fed) hawkish outlook continues to boost the safe-haven USD.

In fact, nine of the Fed's 19 committee members believed that they would need to raise the policy rate this year to combat sticky inflation, prompting investors to ramp up their bets for at least one rate hike, either in September or December. Adding to this, mixed US-Iran messages on Tehran's nuclear program keep geopolitical risk premiums in play and lift the USD to a fresh high since May 2025. This, in turn, exerts pressure on the AUD/USD pair and backs the case for a further depreciating move.