AUD/USD ensnared just shy of 0.7300

• Friday looks set for tense action as the US reaffirms January step-up of China tariffs.
• A thin calendar leaves the Aussie exposed to headline-driven flows.

The AUD/USD heads into Friday trading near 0.7275 after a rough Thursday session saw the Aussie get propped up by better-than-expected employment figures, then trade in rough whips just beneath the 0.7300 handle.

The Friday calendar is free and clear of any meaningful data for the Aussie, leaving Pacific-Asia session traders to grapple with trade war headlines, following recent announcements that the US, despite an apparent thawing in talks between them and China, still intends to jack up the tariff rate on Chinese goods to 25% beginning in January. The planned move will likely see trade rhetoric keep a sharp edge in the weeks leading up to the G20 summit at the end of this month, where US President Trump and China's Xi Jingping are slated for a sideline trade meeting.

AUD/USD levels to watch

Thanks to Friday's above-expectations reading of Australian Unemployment, the AUD is leaning into a bullish technical stance according to FXstreet's own Valeria Bednarik: "from a technical point of view an in the short term, the pair is bullish, as in the 4 hours chart, the pair continues developing above a firmly bullish 20 SMA, which advances above the larger ones, while technical indicators hold well into positive ground, lacking directional strength at the time being. The high for this month is 0.7302, while September one comes at 0.7314, the level to surpass to trigger a bullish continuation up to 0.7360,  where the pair has multiple daily highs and lows from early this year."

Support levels: 0.7235 0.7200 0.7165   

Resistance levels: 0.7315 0.7360 0.7400