Investing.com - The Australian dollar was higher against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday, boosted by the release of strong employment data from Australia, although demand for the greenback remained broadly supported.
AUD/USD hit 0.8228 during late Asian trade, the pair's highest since January 12; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.8225, jumping 0.93%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.8066, Wednesday's low and a five-and-a-half year low and resistance at 0.8377, the high of December 12.
In a report, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said that the number of employed people increased by 37,400 last month, beating expectations for a 3,800 rise. The employment change for November was revised to a 44,900 gain from a previously estimated 42,700 increase.
The report also showed that Australia's unemployment rate ticked down to 6.1% in December from 6.2% in November, whose figure was revised down from a previously estimated rate of 6.3%.
Analysts had expected the unemployment rate to sit at 6.3% last month.
Meanwhile, the greenback regained some ground after falling in the previous session when a report showed the largest drop in U.S. retail sales in 11 months in December.
Official data on Wednesday showed that U.S. retail sales fell 0.9% last month after rising 0.4% in November.
The Aussie was also sharply higher against the euro, with EUR/AUD tumbling 0.92% to 1.4332.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish the weekly report on initial jobless claims as well as data on producer prices and manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia region.