On Thursday the Australian dollar rose to three-week peak against the US dollar, as upbeat Australian employment data supported the local currency,
while Wednesday's weak U.S. data continued to weigh on the greenback.
AUD/USD hit 0.7781 during late Asian trade, the pair's highest since March 27; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.7735, climbing 0.74%. The pair was likely to find support at 0.7567, Wednesday's low and resistance at 0.7842, the high of March 27.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported Thursday that the number of employed people rose by 37,700 in March, exceeding expectations for an increase of 15,000, while February's figure was revised to a 41,900 gain from a previously estimated 15,600 rise.
The report also showed that Australia's unemployment report ticked down to 6.1% last month from 6.2% in February, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated at 6.3%. Analysts had expected the unemployment rate to remain at 6.3%.
In the meantime, the dollar was pressured after data on Wednesday showed that U.S. industrial production fell 0.6% in March, the largest fall since August 2012 and worse than economists' expectations for a 0.3% decline - adding to bets that the Federal Reserve could delay hiking interest rates until late 2015, instead of tightening midyear.
The Aussie was also higher against the euro, with EUR/AUD dropping 0.90% to 1.3784.
