On Thursday the Australian dollar rose against its U.S. peer, bouncing off six-year lows after upbeat Australian
employment data was released, while demand for the greenback slowed down ahead of
upcoming U.S. economic reports.
AUD/USD hit 0.7674 during late Asian trade, the pair's highest since March 10; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.7672, advancing 0.99%. The pair was likely to find support at 0.7558, Wednesday's low and a six-year low and resistance at 0.7853, the high of March 6.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics said in its report that the number of employed people rose by 15,600 in February, beating expectations for an increase of 15,000. January's figure was revised to a 14,600 drop from a previously estimated 12,200 decline.
The data also indicated that Australia's unemployment rate ticked down to 6.3% last month from 6.4% in January, in line with expectations.
At the same time, the Melbourne Institute said that its inflation expectations for the next 12 months slipped to 3.2% in February from 4.0% the previous month.
The greenback lost ground as market players eyed data on U.S. retail sales and initial jobless claims due later in the day. The U.S. currency had rallied broadly on the back of last week's strong employment report.
The Aussie was lower against the New Zealand dollar, with AUD/NZD shedding 0.37% to 1.0370.
The New Zealand sollar was stronger after earlier Thursday the Reserve Bank of New Zealand held its benchmark interest rate at 3.50% and signalled that borrowing costs should remain unchanged through 2017.
