A$ Holds Thursday Gains, AUD/JPY Rebounds On Higher Equities

AUD/USD sits just under 0.6660 currently, close to highs from Thursday's session. Post the Asia close didn't deliver much in the way of fresh ranges, with a fairly tight rough 0.6630/0.6670 range unfolding for the pair. For Thursday's session the pair rose 0.56%, unwinding slightly more than half of Wednesday's fall.

• More action was evident in the crosses, particularly AUD/JPY. This pair got sub 87.50 amid yen outperformance, before rallying back to 89.00 int he NY close. Reports of a potential rescue package for embattled lender First Republic in the US drove a recovery in broader risk appetite.
• Still, after hours trading in the US is seeing sharp losses for First Republic, with developments in the space likely to be a key driver for broader risk appetite today
• The S&P500 finished up 1.76% for Thursday's session, while the VIX index fell back to 23% by the close, after being as high as 27.49%. US yields rebounded strongly, the 2yr to 4.16% (+27bps).
• Commodity indices nudged higher, with the aggregate index (+0.60%) outperforming metals (+0.17%). Iron ore is near $128/ton.
• The data/event risk calendar is empty until the start of next week.
• In terms of technicals, recent highs in AUD/USD come in above 0.6700, while also note the 20-day EMA is at 0.6723, support should be evident around 0.6550 a Fib retracement of the oct-Feb bull cycle.