Investing.com - The Australian dollar was almost unchanged against its U.S. counterpart on Monday, after the release of mixed Australian data, while tensions between Ukraine and Russia continued to dampen risk sentiment.
AUD/USD hit 0.8938 during late Asian trade, the session high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.8932, easing up 0.04%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.8731, the low of February 4 and resistance at 0.9026, the high of February 26.
Industry data earlier showed that new home sales in Australia rose 0.5% in January, after a 0.4% decline the previous month.
A separate report showed that job advertisements in Australia increased by 5.1% in February, after a flat reading in January, whose figure was revised up from a previously estimated 0.3% fall.
Data also showed that company operating profits in Australia rose 1.7% in the fourth quarter, less than the expected 2% increase. In the three months to September, company operating profits were revised were revised up to a 4.3% gain from a previously estimated 3.9% rise.
Elsewhere, official data on Saturday showed that China’s manufacturing purchasing managers’ index fell to an eight-month low in February, adding to fears over a slowdown in the world’s second largest economy.
China is Australia's biggest export partner.
Meanwhile, market sentiment weakened amid mounting geopolitical tensions after Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said Sunday that his country was "on the brink of disaster" after Russia's parliament authorized President Vladimir Putin touse military force in Ukraine.
The Aussie was higher against the euro, with EUR/AUD edging down 0.25% to 1.5421.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release data on personal spending, while the Institute of Supply Management was to release data on manufacturing activity.