Investing.com - The Australian dollar was higher against its U.S. counterpart on Tuesday, boosted by the release of upbeat home loans data from Australia and as investors awaited the Australian Treasury's Annual Budget Release due later in the trading session.
AUD/USD hit 0.7940 during late Asian trade, the session high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.7942, gaining 0.65%.
The pair was likely to find support at 0.7858, the low of May 8 and resistance at 0.8007, the high of May 7.
In a report, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said that home loans increased by 1.6% in March, exceeding expectations for a 1.0% rise. The change in home loans for February was revised to a 1.1% gain from a previously estimated 1.2% increase.
Meanwhile, demand for the greenback weakened as optimism following Friday's U.S. jobs data began to subside.
The Labor Department reported on Friday that the U.S. economy added 223,000 jobs in April, just shy of economists forecast for 224,000. The unemployment rate ticked down from 5.5% to 5.4%, the lowest since May 2008.
However, March’s payrolls report was revised to show that only 85,000 jobs were created, the fewest since June 2012.
The Aussie was also higher against the euro, with EUR/AUD shedding 0.28% to 1.4098.