The Australian dollar slipped lower against its U.S. counterpart on Wednesday, despite the release of strong Australian construction data, as demand for the greenback continued to be broadly supported.
AUD/USD hit 0.7097 during late Asian trade, the pair's lowest since Monday; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.7123, easing 0.09%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.7050, Monday's low and a six-year low and resistance at 0.7253, Tuesday's high.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported on Wednesday that construction work doneincreased by 1.6% in the second quarter, beating expectations for a 1.5% decline. Construction work done fell by 0.8% in the the first quarter, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated 2.4% drop.
But the greenback remained broadly supported after the U.S. Conference Board said on Tuesday that its index of consumer confidence jumped to a seven-month high of 101.5 this month from a reading of 91.0 in July.
The U.S. dollar was also boosted after the People’s Bank of China cut interest rates by 25 basis points to 4.6% on Tuesday, in a bid to bolster economic growth after a plunge in the country’s stock market.
The Aussie was lower against the New Zealand dollar, with AUD/NZD sliding 0.37% to 1.0972.
Also Wednesday, Statistics New Zealand reported that the trade deficit widened to NZ$649 million in July from NZ$194 million in June, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated deficit of NZ$60 million.
Analysts had expected the trade deficit to widen to NZ$750 million last month.
No comments:
Post a Comment