Investing.com - The Australian dollar edged up against its U.S. counterpart on Monday, to trade near two-week highs despite weak Australian vehicle sales data as demand for the greenback weakened after U.S. data was published on Friday.
AUD/USD hit 0.8796 during late Asian trade, the pair's highest since October 31; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.8771, adding 0.14%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.8647, Friday's low and resistance at 0.8853, the high of October 31.
In a report, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said new motor vehicle sales dropped 1.6% in October, after an increase of 2.9% the previous month.
In the U.S., the preliminary reading of the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index rose to a seven year high of 89.4 on Friday, better than forecasts of 87.5 and up from October’s reading of 86.9.
However the report also showed that consumers expected annual inflation of 2.6% this year, down from expectations for inflation of 2.9% in October.
The Aussie was higher against the euro, with EUR/AUD easing 0.10% to 1.4288.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release a report on manufacturing activity in the New York region, as well as data on industrial production.