Investing.com - The Australian dollar was higher against its U.S. counterpart on Tuesday, after the Reserve Bank of Australia cut interest rates as expected, although the greenback continued to be underpinned by upbeat U.S. data.
AUD/USD hit 0.7918 during late Asian trade, the pair's highest since May 1; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.7868, advancing 0.41%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.7789, the low of April 27 and resistance at 0.8029, the high of April 30.
In a widely expected move, the RBA lowered its benchmark interest rate by 0.25% from 2.25% to a record-low 2.00%.
RBA Governor Glenn Stevens said the decision came despite some "improved trends in household demand over the past six months and stronger growth in employment" and cited some ongoing weakness in business capital expenditure and public spending.
Separately, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said that the country's trade deficit narrowed to A$1.32 billion this month from A$1.61 billion in April, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated deficit of A$1.26 billon.
Analysts had expected the trade deficit to narrow to A$1.00 billion in May.
Meanwhile, the greenback found support after the U.S. Census Bureau said on Monday that factory orders rose 2.1% in March, just above expectations for a gain of 2.0%.
The data came after the Institute for Supply Management reported on Friday that activity in the manufacturing sector was stable in April, after slowing in the five previous months.
Another report showed that U.S. consumer sentiment rose in April to its highest level since January.
The reports fuelled optimism that the U.S. economy has turned a corner after a recent soft patch.
The Aussie was also higher against the euro, with EUR/AUD declining 0.73% to 1.4115.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release data on construction sector activity and the trade balance, while the Institute of Supply Management was to release a report on U.S. service sector activity.