Investing.com - The Australian dollar edged lower against its U.S. counterpart on Wednesday, weighed by the release of downbeat consumer sentiment data from Australia, while concerns over an economic slowdown in China continued to dampen sentiment.
AUD/USD hit 0.8948 during late Asian trade, the pair's lowest since March 5; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.8962, slipping 0.19%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.8891, the low of March 3 and resistance at 0.9064, the high of March 10.
In a report, the Westpac Banking Corporation said consumer sentiment in Australia fell 0.7% in March, after a 3% decline the previous month.
A separate report showed that home loans in Australia were flat in January, compared to expectations for a 0.5% fall. Home loans in December were revised down to a 3.3% decline from a previously estimated 1.9% drop.
Meanwhile, sentiment remained under pressure amid worries over the outlook for China’s economy after data over the weekend showed that exports dropped 18.1% in February and inflation slowed.
Markets were also eyeing the standoff between Russia and the West over Ukraine. Ukraine’s interim Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk was to travel to the U.S. to meet President Barack Obama on Wednesday, as diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis continued.
The Aussie was fractionally lower against the euro, with EUR/AUD adding 0.07% to 1.5450.