The AUD/USD pair held on to its modest gains through the early European session and was last seen hovering near-weekly tops, around the 0.7830 region. The pair edged higher during the early part of the trading action on Wednesday and was supported by a better-than-expected Australian Q4 GDP report. In fact, the economy expanded by 3.1% during the October-December period and the previous quarter's reading was also revised higher to 3.4% from 3.3% estimated previously.
Adding to this, the underlying bullish tone in the equity markets extended some additional support to the perceived riskier aussie. However, a modest US dollar uptick – amid a fresh leg up in the US Treasury bond yields – held bulls from placing aggressive bets and kept a lid on any further gains for the AUD/USD pair.