The USD/CNY exchange rate continued to move higher after Friday’s modest rebound from 7.2595, a near two-week low, and gained some positive traction during Monday’s Asian session. Spot prices are currently trading around 7.2905, up more than 0.10% on the day, and are approaching the upper boundary of the range from three days ago.
From a broader perspective, USD/CNY remains above the technically important 50-day, 100-day and 200-day simple moving averages (SMA), which in turn favors bullish traders. Nonetheless, oscillators on the daily chart have yet to confirm the bullish bias, so caution is needed before positioning for any meaningful appreciation move. Therefore, any subsequent strength is likely to encounter a hard barrier near 7.3040-7.3050.
This is followed by resistance near 7.3105, above which USD/CNY will rise to the next relevant hurdle around 7.3360-7.3365 and then towards 7.3495. Some follow-through buying after the 7.3500 mark would see spot prices challenge the multi-year peak around the 7.3680-7.3685 area hit on September 8.
On the other hand, the 7.2700 level currently appears to protect the near-term downside, ahead of Friday’s low near 7.2595 and the 50-day EMA (currently located around 7.2435). A break below the latter could trigger aggressive technical selling, dragging USD/CNY below monthly lows near 7.2390 to test the next relevant support around 7.2135-7.2130.